Into The Maze
by Sparklemuffinz
Summary: The last thing Ellie Smith was expecting was to be thrown into a world that wasn't even supposed to exist. Now having to face a giant maze and trying to stay out of trouble, Ellie has to change her ways in order to survive and find her way home. She is in for one hell of a ride. Thomas/OC
1. The Stranger Things In Life

**Hey guys! So I came up with this idea for a story while I was in school and I just had to turn it into a proper story, so I hope you enjoy!**

**This story's going to be a mix of both the events that happen in the book and the movie**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Maze Runner or any of it's characters. I only own my OC.**

* * *

I let out a loud yawn as the credits rolled up onto the big screen. I had just been watching _The Maze Runner _in the cinema with a few friends. I stood up from my seat, only to fall back down from the numbness in my legs from sitting down for so long. I stretched my legs in an attempt to get the feeling back in them.

After my friends and I gathered our things, we slowly exited the cinema. As soon as I went through the main doors leading outside, I was blinded by how light it was compared to the room we had been sitting in.

We were all waiting to be picked up, so I decided to pass the time by going on my phone. I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone, only to find that it ws missing. And like any normal teenage girl would do, I panicked. I frantically checked my other pockets in the hopes of finding it, but it was nowhere to be found.

_I must have dropped somewhere inside _I thought. I told my friends that I would be back, then darted back into the cinema. I hurried into the room I had been watching the film in, and hurried over to my previous seat.

The room was dimly lit up by the credits that were still rolling. For some reason, the main lights hadn't turned on, making it more difficult to find my phone.

After almost getting myself trapped underneath the seats (Don't ask how I managed to do _that_) I managed to retrive my phone. I got up onto my feet and did a small victory dance. That's when things started to get weird, and I wasn't talking about my dancing.

I let out a startled yelp as a Griever appeared on the screen and stopped mid-dance. It looked like it was staring right at me, which ent chills down my spine. Without a doubt, Grievers were the ugliest things I had ever seen in my life. And that was saying a lot considering how horrifying I looked every morning.

Then the Griever started moving. It walked forwards and it didn't stop until it was the only thing you could see on the screen. The Griever lifted up on of it's metal legs, and hit the screen.

I wasn't expecting anything to happen, so I was shocked when I saw the screen crack. It took a few seconds for me to realise that it had cracked the actual screen. I had the feeling that this wasn't supposed to be happening.

Instead of just standing there helplessly and wtching the screen, I ran. I ran towards the exit. But I never did quite make it.

I hadn't even gotten halfway towards the exit when the screen gave out and broke into a million pieces. I was suddenly thrown back by an unknown force and my head collided sharply with a chair. I slumped onto the floor, my vision stated to blur until the only thing I could see were the dark colours of the room.

The last things I could remember was the sound of the Griever getting closer to me, and thinking how the force wasn't with me, like it had been with Luke Skywalker.

* * *

"Wake up!" said a voice that sounded somewhat familiar. Whoever they were, they wre shaking my shoulders roughly.

"Five more minutes, mom. It's not even a school day" I mumbled sleepily.

Then the memories of what happened in the cinema came back to me. My eyes flew open and I shot up like lightening. I also might have punched the person who was holding me in the face, so don't judge me too harshly.

The person yelped and stumbled backwards, clutching his nose. I couldn't see much, as it was dark. _Why do I have to be trapped in yet another dark room? _I thought darkly. I grabbed the nearest item I could find, which just happened to bee a wooden plank. It wasn't much, but it would be effective. I held up the plank defensively "Who the hell are you and where are we?"

The person held up one hand in surrender "My name's Thomas, and I don't know where-"

Thomas was cut off when the room we were in jolted. I accidently tripped forwards, crashing into Thomas and knocking up both onto the floor. I was pretty much dying of embarrassment to find myself laying on top of Thomas.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" I quickly got off of the poor guy and helped him up. I was at that moment I realised that the room was moving upwards.

I looked at my surroundeds and I could just about make out a cage. I turned to Thomas "We must be in some sort of elevator. I wonder where we're going"

This all seemed fmiliar to me. I felt like I should _know _where we were, but my head still felt bit dizzy from my meeting with the chair. The elevator seemed to move faster every second and I felt like I was going to throw up. The it suddenly halted and Thomas and I were once again thrown to the ground.

A loud beeping noise echoed through the elevator, and was joined by a red light which turned to green after a few seconds.

Thomas lifted himself up and hit the top of the cage shouting "Help! Somebody help"

He kept shouting until the cage opened out, and sunlight came streaming into the cage. I backed away from the light while covering my eyes with my hands. I stuck to the shadows, so I could still be seen, but only enough to know that I was actually there.

I could hear many different voices coming from above, all of them being male voices.

"There's _two _Greenies?"

"We've never had two Greenies before"

"Look at those shanks"

"Hope you enjoyed your one way trips, Greenies"

Then it dawned on me where I was. There was only one thing I could think at that moment. _Oh, shit_.

These people were going to have a field trip when they realise that I was a girl.

I heard a thud as someone jumped into the cage. _Gally_, if I remembered correctly. He went over to Thomas first "Day one, Greenie. Rise and shine." I peeked through my hands to see Gally lift Thomas out of the cage.

Then Gally turned to me "You're next, Greenie"

He strode over to me and I slowly put my hands down. Gally paused when he noticed the main thing about me "Wait a minute, you're not a boy"

"Gee thanks, Sherlock. I didn't notice _that_ before." I said, then pulled myself up so that I was standing. I heard the boys above break into chaos

"Is that a girl down there?"

"Impossible, we've never had a girl before"

"Is she pretty?"

"I call dibs!"

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**And there you have it, the first chapter to my new story. I'll be updating this as soon as I can,**

**Have a nice day!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


	2. Welcome To The Glade

I was lifted out of the cage by Gally and set on the ground. Never in my life had I been so happy to be back on the ground again. I felt a strong urge to hug the grass and never let go.

The boys all looked down at me strangely, as if I were some sort of alien from another planet. I was starting to feel pressured under the gazes of so many people. _Wow, these boys look like bloody models _I thought.

Laughter rang out through the Glade. I was confused for a moment before I realised that everybody was laughing at me. And I had a feeling that I knew why.

"Oh my god, did I actually just say that out loud?" I asked

A tall blonde boy nodded, I instantly recgognized him as Newt "Yeah, you did. It's nice to know we're all worthy of being models"

I could feel my face heating up. I buried my face in my hands "Why am I always so crap at first impressions?"

I heard Newt chuckle. Then I felt someone grab my arm "Here, let me help you up"

I was hauled up onto my feet, and I turned to see it was Alby who had helped me up. I was feeling overwhelmed now. I didn't know what was going on. I backed up until I was standing behind Thomas.

Thomas was the only person I could trust at that moment. Sure, I knew the others wouldn't hurt me, but I felt safer with Thomas. I could tell Thomas was just as confused as I was, even though it was for different reasons. But in a way it just comforted me.

I watched as Thomas slowly reached his hand towards me and grab my hand. He looked back at me and mouthed 'Get ready'

Get ready for what?

The next thing I knew was that Thomas was running. And so was I. He pulled me along with him, urging me to run faster. So I did, I ran faster so that we were running side by side. I didn't know where he was going, so I just followed him.

I heard somebody behind us shout "Looks like we got ourselves some Runners!" which was followed by cheering.

Suddenly Thomas tripped, and since he was still holding my hand, he accidently pulled me down with him. And yet again, I landed on top of him.

Thomas looked up at me "We have got to stop meeting like this"

I laughed "We should, but what's the fun in that?"

Soon Thomas started laughing too, and for a moment, all our problems just went away. Thomas pulled himself up, and helped me get onto my feet.

"I really do need to stop falling over. I'm not that clumsy, I swear!" I said

By now, the others had caught up with us. Alby made his way through the crowd and stood in front of us "Nice to meet ya, shanks. Welcome to the Glade."

"Shanks?" Thomas asked

"It sounds like something a bunch of seven year olds would say" I muttered lowly so that only Thomas could hear me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Thomas crack a smile.

It was at that moment it dawned on me who I was standing next to. Dylan O'Brien. Well, Dylan O'Brien who isn't Dylan O'Brien, because he was actually Thomas now. I wasn't sure how to react. I was standing with a group of boys who are supposed to be actors. No wonder most of them looked like models.

I must have zoned out for a while there, because Thomas was shaking my shoulder. I looked up at him "What?"

Alby spoke up "I asked you for your name"

"Oh!" I glanced at him "It's Ellie. Ellie Smith"

I was hit with a thousand questions at once

"You know your surname?"

"How do you remember that?"

"Do you remember anything else?"

Then I remembered that nobody here remembered anything except their first name. Whoops.

I hid behind Thomas again. I didn't like the fact that I was surrounded by so many boys. I never was one who liked a lot of attention. Thomas took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. At least I had one friend in this place.

"Everybody be quiet!" a British voice shouted. The Gladers instantly fell silent. I felt somewhat relieved knowing that I wasn't the only British person here. Most of the boys sounded American, and the last thing I needed was to be picked on because of my accent.

The voice belonged to a tall blonde boy who I recognized as Newt. He came up to me and asked "Can you remember anything else about yourself?"

I decided to put my acting skills to the test "No, I can't remember anything other than that. Why can't I remember?"

"I can't remember anything either. All I can remember is my name" Thomas said

"It's a long story, shanks," Alby said "You'll learn piece by piece - I'll be takin' you both on the Tour tomorrow. The name's Alby, by the way"

"Then tell us," Thomas said, his voice struggling to remain even "Tell us the long story"

Alby rolled his eyes. I guessed he was used to this by now. I studied my surroundings, noting where everything was. If I was going to fit in here with everyone else, I would have to pretend I know nothing. I was going to have to go from the beginning, asking questions, trying to learn as much as I could about the Glade. I couldn't tell anybody my secret.

"Seriously, where are we?" Thomas asked. He looked scared now, like he wasn't going to bother trying to be brave anymore

Alby sighed "Look, shank. If you ain't scared, you ain't human. Act any different and I'd throw you off the Cliff 'cause it'd mean you're physco."

"The Cliff?" Thomas asked, and you could see the colour draining from his face

"Ah, shuck it. Nobody's died since the accident with Nick. We don't go killing shanks like you here I promise. Just don't get yourselves killed and try to survive. Now, no more questions until tomorrow, Greenbeans. Got that?" Alby said

I nodded my head in agreement. I knew everything I needed to know anyway.

"These kids are gonna have a buggin' heart attack if you keep telling them these things," said Newt. He turned to us "Names Newt by the way. You'd have to forgive our klunk-for-brains leaders here. He's new at this"

Newt held out a hand for us to shake. Thomas shook it first, followed by me.

"Now that we're introduced, let me tell you about the basics of this shuck place" Newt said.

I didn't pay much attention as Newt told us where we were. I knew this stuff already. I had plans to make. I was the only person here who knew what was really going on and what was going to happen. I had to try and make sure things wouldn't turn out so bad this time around. I wasn't going to stand around and do nothing while everything in the Glade starts to change. I didn't want to feel guilty knowing that I let these innocent people down.

I was brought out of my thoughts when somebody tugged the sleeve of my shirt. I turned to see a small boy who looked about 12 years old. I immediately knew him as Chuck. He smiled at me "Hello! My name's Chuck"

I grinned "Hey there, Chuck. I'm Ellie, but you probably already knew that"

Oh yes, I was definitely going to be changing events that were supposed to happen.


	3. The Mystery Girl

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Maze Runner _or any of it's characters. I only own my OC's**

* * *

_(Third Person)_

In the WICKED headquarters, everyone had become confused. Some mystery girl turned up into the Glade. Somebody who wasn't supposed to be there.

"I want this girl to be identified right away," Demanded Ava Paige, walking into the room "I want to know who she is, and how she got into the Glade."

There were a few 'right away's as people got to work, pulling up Ellie's face onto their computers and scanning records to find who this girl was. They found no such luck as to finding out who the mystery girl was.

Ava sighed. Surely finding one teenage girl couldn't be that difficult "Alright, bring up the footage of when Thomas was being put into the Box. The girl must have had help getting in there without getting caught."

A minutes later she was sat in a chair, watching the footage. She watched Thomas being placed in the center of the Box, and then the men who had put him there got out and locked it. After a few minutes, the Box took off, heading up towards the Glade. Ava frowned. The girl hadn't entered the Box through the entrance. So how did she get in?

Ava pulled up the footage from inside the Box. A few seconds after the door had been locked, the camera glitched. It went blank and Ava couldn't see a thing going on inside the Box. Then it returned to normal, and there next to Thomas, lay the girl.

Now she definately knew something wasn't right. The technology WICKED used was so advanced that it just simply didn't break down like that. Not even for a second.

Ava opened up a new tab on her computer and typed in;

_WICKED Memorandum, Date 232.1.22, Time 09:30_

_TO: My Associates_

_FROM: Ava Paige, Chancellor_

_RE: ELLIE SMITH_

_I am calling a meeting at 10:00 to discuss of the intruder who identifies herself as 'Ellie Smith'. Records of who this girl may be cannot be found and we need to decided whether we keep the girl in the trials or not._

She hit the send button

* * *

Later that morning, Ava sat at the head of the table. Her associates were all sat in their seats and she was eager to begin the meeting.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. You are all aware of why we have gathered here this morning. It has been half an hour since I called this meeting and we still have no information on who this Ellie Smith really is. I have checked the footage from when Thomas was put into the cage and taken into the Glade, and the girl just seemed to appear in the box. We have do decided what to do with her."

"I reckon we should kill her" stated one of the men sat at the table. Most of the others agreed.

"No, I reckon we should keep her alive, see what she does," a short woman stood up "From the looks of it, Miss Smith does indeed have her memories, but she has chosen not to share them. She doesn't seem as afraid as Thomas is. Do you think she knows about the Trials?"

The man who spoke before shot up from his chair "All the more reason to get rid of her, what if the girl knows too much? We've come too far just to lose it all because of one girl"

The woman gave him a look "Yes, but there's something we're missing here. Miss Smith isn't one of our subjects. She's different to them. She's brought something new into the Trials. She brought faith with her. The others are starting to think she's special, first they're given a girl, and then said girl can remember more than her first name."

"Both of you please, sit down," Ava said "I agree with you, Miss. Danvers, this girl has brought faith with her, something our boys need. She'll be a new experiment altogether. We'll see how this mystery girl can survive the Trials. She hasn't gone through the training that the others were put through. As far as we all know, people don't just appear in places. This girl was brought into the Glade for a reason, and we're going to find out why."

The others tried to protest, but Ava held up her hand to silence them "I want this girl's every move monitored. I want to know who she interacts with and how she interacts with them. I want to see how she acts in the Glade and I want to find out as much as we possibly can about our newest test subject."

The meeting was called to an end, and soon enough Ava Paige was the last person in the room. She peered down at the monitor in front of her, watching as Ellie spoke with Chuck. She grinned "I'll find out who you really are soon enough, Ellie Smith."


	4. Inspector Gally

**Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I wanted to finish reading the books before I continued with my story. I only just finished _The Death Cure _yesterday. I have no words to describe how I feel about what happened in the last book.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Maze Runner _or any of it's characters. I only own my OC's**

* * *

I was speaking with Chuck, when a piercing scream tore through the air. The scream echoed thorughout the entire Glade. Everybody's heads snapped towards the direction of the noise. It sounded like it had come from the Homestead.

"Shuck it, can't those shuckin' Medjacks handle him for 10 minutes without needing any bloody help?" Alby muttered

I snorted "Apparently not"

He only glared at me in response. Then he turned to Chuck and gestured towards Thomas "I'm putting you in charge of this Greenie's sleeping arrangements."

I frowned "What about me?"

"Well we can't have you sleeping around all these shuck-faces now can we? I'll arrange something for you later. As for the rest of you, if any of you try anything with this girl, you'll be banished. Am I clear?"

Numerous agreements could be heard from the boys. Alby turned and headed towards the Homestead with Newt right behind him.

The boys started going back to what they were doing previously. I curiously glanced at the people around me. There were so many of them here and I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed. I made eye contact with Gally, and smiled at him. He nodded at me before going back to whatever he was doing.

Luckily, I had read all of _The Maze Runner _books, so I knew exactly what I was up against. While I was here, I was going to save as many people as I could. I was going to be making some big changes.

Thomas sat down next to a tree. I motioned for Chuck to follow me, and we both sat down next to Thomas.

"So I guess we need some introductions. Thomas, this is Chuck. Chuck, this is Thomas." I said.

Chuck held his hand out towards Thomas, who's attention was on a small metal creature.

Chuck dropped his hand "That's a beetle blade. Those things won't hurt you, unless you're stupid enough to touch one of them.. Shanks."

I could tell that he hadn't used the word shank very often. I was about to speak, but was cut off by another scream. This one sounding worse than the one before.

I winced "Sounds like someone's dying in there. What's happening?"

Even though I knew what was going on, I had to play dumb. Act like the others and pretend I know nothing. I feared what would happen to me if WICKED found out I knew everything. I was surprised that I was still here, I figured they would have taken me out the moment they realised I was in the Glade.

"That's Ben up there, he's sicker than a dog. _They _got him the other day." Chuck said.

Thomas frowned "_They_? Who are _they_?"

"Let's hope you never find out, Greenbeans" was Chuck's reply.

I sighed "What's up with the nicknames? Last time I checked, I was a girl, not a vegetable."

Chuck laughed "Because you're the new kids here, that's why"

Another scream tore through the air. I sounded like Ben's pain was unbearable, and I didn't ever want to get stung if that was how much pain I would have to go through.

"How can you laugh at times like this? When some guy sounds as if he's dying?" Thomas said, glaring at Chuck.

"Relax, Greenie," Chuck held his hands up in defense "he's had the Serum, so he'll be fine"

I decided to ask another question "So why does he need to be treated?"

"Um, because of the Grievers. They stung him. Apparently it hurts a lot" He answered.

"Grievers?" Thomas asked

I was finished with this conversation. I didn't need to know what a Griever was, because I already knew about them. Getting up, I walked towards the Homestead. To where Ben was. It didn't take long for Thomas and Chuck to catch up with me. The three of us went into the Homestead.

As soon as I walked through what was a poor excuse for a door, I was hit by a disgusting smell. It was the strong scent of dust and mildew. It looked like a place you would see in a horror movie, and I was expecting the building to collapse sometime soon. The flickering lights did nothing to help my uneasiness.

Thomas headed straight for the stairs, but was blocked by Gally. Gally looked over to his friends and said "Hey guys, it's the Greenbean! He probably klunked his pants when he heard ol' Benny baby scream like a girl. Need a nappy, shuck-face?"

I glared at Gally "How can you stand there and mock a guy because he's in pain? It's not his fault he got stung by a Griever. So why don't you bring down your attitude, and stop being so damn disrespectful to others."

Everybody stared at me. I guess not many people had the guts to stand up to Gally. I had to somehow get Gally to like Thomas. Or at least to trust me. Otherwise there was no way Gally would be joining us when we leave the Maze.

Gally was about to respond but Thomas tried to push past him. Gally stopped him "Hold up. Nobody's allowed to go up those stairs. Alby's orders."

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I don't know where I am. All I want is someone to help me," Thomas glanced back at to "To help us."

I thought it was sweet how Thomas was looking out for me. As far as he knew, I didn't have a clue what was going on and he has taken it upon him to look after me.

"I've seen you before, Newbie. And there's something fishy about you. I'm going to find out what it is." Gally said.

"Bloody hell," I walked forwards and pushed Gally out of the way. I grabbed Thomas' arm and started dragging him up the stairs with me "Have fun solving your little mysteries, detective. You won't find anything because there isn't anything to be found."

When we reached the top of the stairs Thomas turned to me "Thanks, for defending me back there"

I shrugged "You're the first person I met in this place, we have to stick together if we're going to get out of this hell hole."

We crept along the corridor. The floorboards creaked under our weight. I whispered "So we're looking for tht Newt guy, right?"

Thomas only nodded. It didn't take long for us to find him. There was screaming coming from behind one of the doors, so we quietly opened it so we could both look inside. Newt and Alby were crouched over Ben, who was lying on a bed.

I saw Thomas leaning forward to get a better look. His face suddenly went pale from what he saw. Curiosity got the better of me, and I too leaned closer to get a better look. Upon seeing it, I now understood why Thomas felt sick. I only had one word to describe what Ben looked like. Grotesque.

Ben's skin was so pale it was almost white, and he had massive green veins all over his skin. He was covered in purplish bruises and his eyes were bloodshot and wild. Ben was writhing around on the bed, trying to get away from Newt and Ably. It looked much worse than it did in the film.

I tugged on Thomas' arm and whispered "We have to go, now."

We backed out of the room and closed the door, but not before Ben saw us. His screams turned louder. Harsher. And he was shouting "HE'S ONE OF THEM! HE'S ONE OF THEM!" repeatedly.

Thomas and I were already halfway downstairs when I heard the door open.

"Nobody's out here" I heard Newt say.

"Well then get back in here, you shank" Came Alby's voice.

As soon as we got outside, we ran. We didn't stop running until we were by the animal pens. We were both slightly out of breath so we sat down on the grass. Thomas was the first to speak "What was that?"

"I don't know," I told him "but let's never do that again."

"Agreed."

* * *

**I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as I can,**

**Have a nice day!**

**~SparkleMuffinz**


	5. I Believe In Miracles

**I don't own _The Maze Runner _or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

* * *

While Chuck took Thomas to go set up his new sleeping arrangements, I headed over to the Box to see if anything else had come up with Thomas and I. When I arrived at the Box, there were two boys taking out supplies.

The first boy was really tall. His hair was brown and was very frizzy and wild. He had blue eyes that twinkled in amusement as he laughed at something his friend had said. The second boy was the complete opposite. He was short and had shoulder length copper hair. His brown eyes were glaring at his friend.

I approached them both and waved shyly "Hello"

Frizzy haired boy smiled "Hey! You're Ellie, right? I'm Jack, and this is my friend Sam."

Sam nodded at me. He twisted around to pick up two items and he gave them to me "I believe these are yours. The hoodie had your name on the back and the bag was right next to it."

My eyes widened in surprise. I had completely forgotten that I had them with me at the time. But something was missing.

"Where's my phone?" I asked, looking up at the two boys.

"You mean this thing?" Jack said, holding up my phone "We had no idea what it was so we were planning to take it to Alby."

Jack handed me my phone. I stuffed my hoodie and my phone into my bag. My hoodie was white, with my name in big bold letters on the back. My bag was a grey shoulder bag which I had been using for years. Inside I also had spare clothes, my earphones and some money. I was supposed to stay over my friends house after we had left the cinema, but things didn't exactly go the way we had planned.

"Well thanks boys. I'm going to go find Thomas, the guy can't go for five minutes without getting into trouble." I chuckled.

They said their goodbyes and I walked away in search for Thomas. It didn't take long for me to find him. Thomas was at the entrance of the maze with Chuck. I saw Gally heading towards him so I started running.

I arrived just in time for Gally to shove Thomas roughly away from the entrance. Gally stood over Thomas "We gotta stop meeting like this, Greenie."

Thomas kicked Gally's legs and scrambled closer to the entrance of the Maze. I moved next to him and put my hand on his shoulder "Thomas, are you alright?"

Thomas pulled me behind him and said out loud "What is wrong with you people? Why won't you tell us what the hell is out there?"

Everyone kept speaking at once, telling us to calm down and to relax. Soon enough Alby and Newt showed up.

"Look, we're just trying to protect you here" Alby said.

I narrowed my eyes at him "Protect us from what, exactly? You've been hiding things from us and we want to know what it is"

"Yeah, you guys can't just keep us here!" Thomas said angrily.

Alby was about to say something, but was cut off by a loud screeching noise that came from behind me. Thomas and I looked at each other for a second, then we turned to face the entrance. We were hit by a gust of wind and I had to shield my eyes with my arm.

I watched in awe as the Maze doors slowly closed. It was one thing to see it on the big screen in the cinema, but to actually see it happen in front of you was almost scary. The doors grinded against the floor as they moved towards each other. When the doors finally shut, the doors connected with a loud thud that echoed throughout the Glade.

"Next time, I'll let you shanks leave" Gally said.

We were all quiet for a moment. All that could be heard was the rustling of trees and the animals in their pens.

Suddenly, there was music blasting in the air. I frowned. The music sounded familiar. The others looked around trying to find the source of the music. That's when the singing started.

**I believe in miracles,**

It dawned on me that it was my phone. I mentally cursed my choice of ringtone as I scrambled to get my phone out of my bag

**Where you from, you sexy thing? Sexy thing, you,**

A string of curses flew from my mouth as I couldn't find my phone. Everyone was staring at me now, I could see Newt from the corner of my eye, trying to hide his laugh.

**I believe in miracles, since you came along, you sexy thing**

I let out a sigh of relief as I finally found my phone and pulled it out of my bag. I looked at the caller ID, but it came up as unknown. So naturally, I went and answered the call. I brought up the phone to my ear ".. Hello?"

"_Oh my gosh, you actually answered!_" Came a familiar voice

I ignored the looks I got from everyone "Abi?"

"_Where the hell are you? We've been searching for days.._" She said

My mouth fell open "_Days_? How long have I been gone?"

Abi replied saying "_Uh, you've been gone for five days. You were taking ages to come out of the cinema and so I went inside to check, but you weren't there. I searched everywhere for you and even had the staff check the security cameras, but it never showed you coming out.._"

I sighed "Look, Abi, I'm sorry I went missing. I can't exactly come home right now. I'm.. busy"

"_Since when did you keep secrets from me, El? You know what, nevermind. Just promise me that you're safe and that you'll come home soon._"

"I promise, I'll see you soon. Goodbye, Abi" The words felt like a lie the moment they left my mouth. I was far from safe, and I had no idea if I would ever be able to go home again.

She said her goodbyes and hung up. I blinked back a few tears that were threatening to fall.

"What the shuck is that thing your holding?" Newt was the first to speak

"Um, it's a phone? You know, those things you use to communicate with people far away?" I said

Thomas looked at my phone skeptically "It doesn't really look like one"

It dawned on me that I was currently over two hundred years into the future "Yeah that's only because it's a really really old phone. They used to have these back around 2015"

"Well what year is it now?" Thomas asked no one in particular

I looked at my phone screen. That date had changed "The year 2232."

"How the shuck do you know that?" Gally asked.

"Because that's what it says on my phone, duh."

They all seemed to believe it. Soon enough, everyone started walking away to get back to what they were going before. The only people who were left were Thomas, Alby, Newt, Gally and Chuck.

"So, what did the person on the 'phone' say?" Alby asked.

I rean a hand through my hair "It was my best friend, I've been missing from home for a few days. I didn't think she'd be able to contact me though."

Alby seemed to be in thought about it. He finally spoke up, saying "I thought you said you couldn't remember anything other than your name, and now you get a phone call from someone you claim to be your friend. You looked shocked to hear their voice and you recognised them. Is there something you would like to tell us?"

I shook my head "I only remembered her from when she called me. Alby, if I start remembering anything else, I'll come straight to you, alright?"

I was starting to feel weighed down by all these lies I was coming up with. I was never one to lie to others, but recently I've been spitting out lies without hesitating.

Ably nodded "We'll discuss this another time. For now, let's focus on welcoming our new Greenies here."

"So is nobody going to mention Ellie's choice of ringtone?" Newt asked while smirking at me.

I felt my cheeks flush in embarassment. I glared at Newt and said "Lets not bring that up ever again."

Newt leaned close to my ear and said "Whatever you want, you sexy thing."

Newt spent the rest of the day with the Med-Jacks holding an ice pack to his head.

* * *

**The song I used in this chapter is called _You Sexy Thing _****by _Hot Chocolate_.**

**I'll upload the next chapter as soon as I can**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


	6. Celebrations

Later that evening, you could find everyone at the campfire. Alby, Newt and a couple of Gladers held long sticks which had been lit on fire.

"Light 'em up!" Alby shouted, and they threw the torches at an unlit bonfire. When it caught on fire and everyone cheered. There was music playing and people were dancing. Gally was the centre of attention, wresting with other Gladers. It seemed that nobody had beaten him yet.

Newt and Thomas were sat behind a log, away from the celebrations. They were deep in their conversation and I didn't want to interrupt so I was sat on one of the logs a not too far from where Gally was beating up those who dare challenge him.

Someone sat down next to me and held out a jar full of liquid towards me. I looked over to see a dark haired aisian guy who looked about my age. It was Minho.

"You looked kinda lonely by yourself. Here, have some of this." He said, and put the drink into my hands.

I narrowed my eyes at him "Did you pee in this?"

"What?! No! Oh my god.. It's just Gally's recepie, you shank." He spluttered.

I laughed nervously "Bloody hell, I'm sorry. Sometimes I speak before I think."

I took a cautious sip from the jar, remembering how Thomas reacted when he first tried it. It was strong. And very bitter. It was beer. It wasn't my first time drinking alcohol, so I didn't have much of reaction after tasting it. I handed the jar back to Minho, who smirked "You're a tough one, aren't ya? Most Greenies would have spat it out"

"Well you'd know that from experience, wouldn't you?" I grinned.

He looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. Then he smiled "I like you, Greenie. The name's Minho."

"I'm Ellie, but you probably knew that already. I sometimes forget that I'm the only girl here. Its weird."

He chuckled "Especially with all the other shanks checking you out when you walk by"

My jaw dropped open and Minho laughed at my reaction "You didn't notice? Shuck, I thought it would be pretty obvious to you, being the only girl around."

"No I didn't notice, but thanks for telling me," I wrapped my arms around myself as if it would protect me from the Gladers "Good job on making me feel insecure though"

Minho shrugged "You got nothing to worry about, those shanks won't approach you with your boyfriend hanging around with you all the time."

I glared at him "His name is Thomas. And he's not my boyfriend"

Minho only raised his hands defensively in response. We sat in silence for a few minutes, sharing the jar of Gally's secret recipe while we watched everyone celebrate. I felt relaxed, the air was cool and the only light came from the bonfire. There was music being played from hand-made instruments and everyone was happy. Even Gally who was wresting with the others.

From the corner of my eye I could see Thomas and Newt sat behind one of the logs, looking out towards the Maze.

Taking the jar from Minho I set it down on the ground. I grabbed Minho's hand I stood up and dragged him over to where there were Gladers dancing. I ignored Minhos protests and started dancing. Soon enough he was dancing along with me. I wasn't much of a dancer, I had taken a dance class once as a kid but that didn't last very long. Most of my dancing consisted of waving my arms around like an idiot.

Minho kept glancing across my shoulder every now and then. He soon spoke up saying "You might want to go ask your boyfriend for a dance, looks like he's starting to get jealous."

I looked over my shoulder and made eye contact with Thomas, who quickly turned away after realising he got caught looking.

Minho took his chance to escape from me, I decided against going after him but I couldn't help shouting "He isn't my boyfriend, dammit!"

I made my way over to where Thomas and Newt were sitting, and sat in between the two. I smiled innocently at Newt "How's your head?"

Newt glared at me, but I could see he was holding back a smile "The good thing is I no longer need an ice pack. The bad thing is all these shanks won't stop talking about how I got beat up by a girl. I could have easily taken you out if I actually tried fightin' back"

I snorted "Yeah, keep telling yourself that, mate. And next time don't be afraid to fight back, I wouldn't care if you did"

"I'll remember that next time" He gumbled.

I glanced at Thomas "You're being really quiet, are you alright?"

Thomas' eyes snapped towards me "Me? Yeah, I'm fine."

I raised an eyebrow, but made no comment.

We didn't stay up much longer and everyone was soon sleeping peacefully. Well, as peacefully as one could with the noises of the maze walls turning and the Grievers screeching in the background.

Today had been the weirdest day of my life, and I had the feeling that it was only going to get even worse as time goes by.


	7. Rise And Shine

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Maze Runner or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

* * *

Someone shook my shoulder. I blindly reached out and shoved them away. A few seconds later they were shaking me again. Did they not understand the concept of beauty sleep?

I opened my mouth to start ranting at the idiot who thought it was a good idea to wake me up but not even a word escaped my mouth as there was suddenly a hand covering it. I peeked my eyes open to see Newt standing above me with Thomas in tow. I narrowed my eyes at Newt, then doing what any sane person would do, I licked his hand.

His face scrunched up in disgust as he yanked his hand away. His wiped his hand on Thomas who now looked equally disgusted. He shoved Newt away from him and glared.

"Why the shuck did you lick my hand?" Newt whispered furiously, staring at his hand as if it was going to fall off.

"Well first of all, you were disturbing me from my sleep. Second, I don't appreaciate you sticking your hand over my mouth!" I replied in a whisper.

He sighed "Get up, you lazy shank. I need to show ya somethin' before the others wake up."

I grumbled under my breath as I hauled myself out of my hammock. We snuck our way past the sleeping Gladers. I was almost jealous of how they were still sleeping. Thomas managed to trip several times, and even crushed some poor boys hand with his foot, earning a punch to his calf and a glare from Newt.

Once we made it out, Newt broke into a run, heading over to the western wall. Thomas and I quickly ran after him until we were all running at the same pace.

Even though the sun was rising, it was still quite dark and large shadows loomed over us. We came to a stop right next to the massive wall. The maze walls were taller than most buildings I had seen. It was like looking up at a skyscraper, and I hated it. I wanted nothing more than to get out of here. Only I couldn't just tell everybody the way out, they would become suspicious if I suddenly knew how to escape the Maze.

I was brought out of my thoughts when Thomas asked in a slightly shaking voice "What are those?"

I followed his gaze to see him looking at little flashing lights that were red. _Beatle Blades_? _Blade Beatles_? I wasn't too sure of what they were called.

"When you need to know, you'll bloody know" Was Newts reply.

I shared a look with Thomas "I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty important that we know what they are. For all we know they could be dangerous and deadly."

"Well it's kind of stupid to send us to a place where nothing makes sense and not answer our questions," Thomas paused for a second "_Shank._"

Newt laughed before quickly cutting himself off "I quite like you, Greenies. Now shut up, I'm tryin' to show ya somethin'"

Newt took a step forward and reached into the thick ivy in front of him, spreading them apart so we could take a closer look. My eyes widened slightly in recognition. He was going to show us a Griever!

We stood in silence for a few seconds. Watching through the window for any sign of movement.

"What are we looking for?" Thomas asked curiously.

Newt sent a glare at Thomas "Hold your undies. One'll come around."

We were there for several mintues before one showed up. Although it wasn't my first time seeing a Griever, I was still scared. It was only yesterday when a Griever smashed through a cinema screen and brought me here. I knew the Griever we were looking at now was going to do so I braced myself and waited for it.

Newt was talking again, explaining to us how important the Maze was and why we shouldn't enter it. But I had plans on going in there anyway, I just had to become a Runner first or I'd never be allowed near the place. Our way out was in the Maze, and I needed to push Thomas and everyone else in the right direction. Hopefully I would manage to do it with everyone making it out alive.

I had a feeling the weight on my shoulders wasn't going to lift anytime soon. They wouldn't for a long time.

Thomas leaned in closer to the window, trying to get a better look at the bulbous creature. I honestly would have preferred never to see them again but I was going to have no other choice.

We watched as the Griever climbed up the wall opposite us. I was still bracing myself as it leaped at the window. Thomas shrieked, taking a step back. I had to bite my toungue to stop myself from laughing at how high-pitched his scream was.

If I were to get a closer look at the Griever, I would be able to clearly make out the different kinds of weapons that stuck out from it at different angles. I shuddered at the thought of getting caught by one of those things.

We didn't hang around much longer. After Newt explained that our purpose here was to get out, we went in different directions. Thomas went to go and wake up Chuck, and Newt and I decided to go over to the kitchen for breakfast.

I wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment so I sat at a table with Alby, who was already eating his breakfast. When Newt came back he took the seat on my left and they ate in silence. It was like this for a few mintues before someone else came and joined our table.

"Morning, Princess" Minho said, breaking the silence as he sat down on the other seat next to me. He gave a nod to the others, who in turn nodded back. Was that supposed to be some sort of guy thing?

"Morning, peasant" I replied cheerfully. I heard Newt slightly choke on his breakfast and Alby hiding his smirk behind his hands. This was going to be fun.

"What did you just call me?" Minho asked, raising an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes "Come on, peasant, keep up. I don't pay you to fall behind!"

He sent me a mock glare in return "You don't even pay me anything"

"Here we go again with your bitching and your complaining. It's a miracle I haven't fired you yet. Now, go get me some breakfast." I pointed over to where Frypan was serving toast.

"No!" Minho protested, crossing his arms. He looked like a pouting five year old.

"Fine," I huffed "Then go get your own breakfast"

All three of them frowned at me in confusion. Newt spoke up "But he already has his-"

He stopped when he saw me swiftly reaching over to Minhos plate, and snatch up his toast. Not even Minho's Runner reflexes could save his precious toast as I took a huge chunk out of it with my teeth. I turned my attention to Newt "You were saying?"

Minho's reaction was priceless. His face had morphed into a look of pure surprise and hatred. Next to me Newt had almost fallen out of his chair and was laughing loudly, earning dirty looks from the other Gladers who had only just woken up. Alby didn't even bother to hide the fact that he was grinning now.

"I'm going to get you back for this, sweetheart" Minho seethed

I smiled sweetly "I can't wait. This toast is absolutely _delicious _by the way!"

He glared at me for a few seconds, then he dramatically turned around and walked over to Frypan to fetch more toast.

By now Newt had calmed down "You're officially my favorite person, Greenie."

"Thanks, Newt. I think it's going to be a lot of fun here in the Glade pissing Minho off every chance I get" I said.

"I don't think I've ever seen him so angry before. I'd watch your back if I were you" He warned.

Before I could reply, Minho returned. This time, Thomas and Chuck were with him. We continued eating our breakfast and when we were finished, Thomas turned towards me asking "Ellie, why has Minho been glaring at you?"

I smirked. Minho had taken a seat on the opposite of the table this time, so Thomas had sat next to me instead.

So I said to Thomas "Oh, he's just mad about how much he loves me and that he has no idea how to express his undying love for me"

From across the table Minho sent another glare my way "You think you're so funny, don't you?"

"I don't think I'm funny, _sweetheart_. I know I am" Came my reply.

Minho couldn't keep himself from smiling anymore. He chuckled quietly "We're going to have our hands full with you here, aren't we?"

I only sent him a wink in response.


	8. We Almost Get Killed By Pigs

**Hello! Have any of you seen the Scorch Trials yet? I went to see it last week and it was amazing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Maze Runner _or any of its characters, I only own my OC's**

* * *

After everyone had finished their breakfast, they went their seperate ways. Alby was giving Thomas and I the tour of the Glade, and I knew Thomas had a lot of questions he needed answered. But before Alby even started the tour, he turned to us and said "No questions 'til the end, you understand?"

I nodded. Thomas wasn't so happy though "But-"

Thomas stopped himself after the look he received from Alby. I tuned out pretty much everything after that. I followed Alby and Thomas around the Glade, nodding along to everything they were saying as if I was paying attention. Soon enough we had reached the South Wall. On a large part of the wall were names. Names that had been etched into it, some of those names had even been crossed off.

"What happened to the people whose names have been crossed off?" I heard Thomas ask

"Like I said, there were dark days" Came Alby's reply. Alby produced a knife from his pockets and handed it over to Thomas. As Thomas and I wrote our names into the wall, Alby explained the rules in more depth, and he emphasised strongly how we weren't allowed to step into the Maze unless we became a Runner.

And that was the end of our tour. Alby had decided to have us work with the Slicers. But that didn't end very well. Within the first ten minutes of working there I managed to somehow trip over and got the pigs food all over Thomas and I. Also, I may be exaggerating when I say we were trampled and almost eaten alive by the pigs. Did I metion that we (Meaning I, but I won't be admitting that to the others anytime soon) may have left the gate open so quite a few of the pigs had escaped. Winston, the Keeper of the Slicers, had heard us shouting for help and was furious with us. He then kicked us out and told us to never go back inside the Blood House again, but I wasn't complaining.

"What do we do now?" Thomas asked me as we stood outside the Blood House.

I thought about it for a moment "Well I don't know about you, but I'd rather not face the wrath of Alby. So let's just go join those gardner boys"

Thomas frowned "You mean the Track-Hoes?"

"Yeah them" We found it quite easy sneaking over to the Gardens, and we convinced Newt that Alby had sent us over here. And that's how I found myself digging up weeds.

Thomas had spent his time making suggestions on how to escape the Maze, to which Newt shot down, having tried all those ideas already. I saw Newt toss a bucket to Thoma, telling him to go get some more fertilizer. As I watched Thomas head into the Deadheads, I felt a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Something didn't feel right. There was something wrong but I just couldn't remember what.

Zart, the Keeper of the Track-Hoes, came over to us "Hey Newt, Greenie. Have you guys seen Ben this morning? He was supposed to go out into the Maze today but nobody's seen him"

Then it clicked. _Ben_. My eyes widened in horror and I looked over to the Deadheads, where Thomas had just gone. And where Ben would be.

"I have to go find Thomas" burst from my lips, and I took off before they could say anything about it. I could hear them calling from behind me but I ignored them. As I got closer to the Deadhead I could hear Thomas' shouts for help which made me run faster. I could see Thomas running from Ben, heading towards my direction. But Ben was faster. He knocked Thomas over and straddled him.

Without thinking about it, the moment I reached them I leaped onto Ben, sending us both flying onto the floor, away from Thomas. Now I was the one who was on top of Ben. I pinned his arms and legs down tightly. Ben growled at me. It sounded animalistic and I would be lying if I said it didn't scare me.

I could see rope-like veins running along his face and neck. His eyes were bloodshot and had a wild inhumane look in them.

"Ben? Ben! It's me, Ellie. You have to calm down. Thomas is our friend, not our enemy." I said

Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Newt and Zart had arrived. Ben started thrashing around, trying to escape my grip but I only held him tighter.

"He's one of them!" Ben screamed "You've got the wrong person. It should be him!" He glared at Thomas.

"Ben, listen to me. You're not yourself right now. Thomas is one of us" I said gently, in an attempt to calm him.

Then Ben turned on me his voice suddenly changed, as if it weren't his own "And you! You're not supposed to be here. You don't exist! You could ruin everything!"

Ben turned his head to face Newt and Zart, his voice changing again "We have to kill them, both of them. They're monsters!"

That insult hit my like a punch to the gut. It had caught me off guard. I had loosened my grip in shock, and that's the opening Ben was looking for. He broke free from my grip and lunged at me, pulling out a knife from his pocket. I had little time to react as Ben swung the knife towards my chest. While I managed to move out of the way and avoided getting stabbed, I didn't get away unscathed. My shirt was now ripped in the center, and I had a deep gash on my stomach. It hurt like a bitch.

I bit my tounge sharply to stop myself from screaming. I clutched my stomach with one hand and crawled backward with the other. Ben raised the knife to take another swing, but he stopped mid-swing when a shovel collided with the back of his head. He now lay on the floor unconscious.

Newt lowered the shovel, and quickly knelt down by my side. I smiled weakly at him "My hero."

Everything was a blur after that. I could faintly remember Newt telling me to stay awake and being carried by him and some other Glader I didn't know. The only solid memory I had, was Thomas holding my hand.


	9. Advice From A Socially Awkward Teenager

**Disclaimer: I don't own _The Maze Runner_ or any of it's characters. I only own my OC's.**

* * *

I don't know how long I was out, but when I came to my senses I could feel someone's hand holding mine and a damp cloth was being pressed to my forehead. The earlier events of the day came back to me and a groan escaped my lips. The hand holding mine stiffened and I no longer felt the cloth on my head.

"Ellie?" Spoke a quiet voice.

I cracked my eyes open to see none other than Thomas peering down at me. I flashed him a weak smile before sitting up. Thomas tried pushing me down but I slapped his hands away.

He frowned at me "You should be resting"

I shrugged "How long have I been out?"

"A few hours at the most." Thomas responded.

I ran a hand through my hair. I had wasted time being bedridden. I should have been up and making plans to keep everyone save. Now I may have even lost Ben, who had only attacked Thomas because he was angry and scared. Looking out the window I could see that it was still day. Maybe there was a chance to save him.

Throwing the blanket off of me, I swung my legs over the side and stood up. And then my knees gave way and I crumpled to the floor. I huffed "Come on! Give me a break!"

Thomas strolled to the other side of the bed, and when he reached me he stopped, crossing his arms and looking down at me "As goregeous as you look on the floor there, you really need to get back to bed."

My eyes widened and I froze. What did he just call me?

Thomas had taken that to his advantage and slipped his arms underneath mine. He started lifting me towards the bed. I needed to find Alby, but I knew Thomas wouldn't be letting me go anywhere anytime soon. Given the chance he'd be strapping me down to the bed with no escape. I was going to regret this later.

"I'm sorry, Thomas" I told him sincerely.

He frowned "Sorry for what?"

"This." I rammed my elbow into his face and he howled in pain. He instinctively dropped me as his hands flew to his nose, which was now bloody. Whoops. While he was busy distracted, I shoved him onto the bed, picked up the blanket and quickly tied a tight and complicated knot around his legs. I then proceeded to bolt out of the door.

Behind me I heard Thomas get up and try following me, only to trip over the blanket around his legs. With a loud thump he fell onto the floor.

"Ellie!" He shouted. I would have been a bit scared if he didn't look so rediculous with his bloody nose and his legs caught up in a blanket.

I paused by the staircase and smiled sweetly "As goregous as you look on the floor there, you really should get your nose checked out"

I disappeared after that, leaving a raging Thomas behind.

The cool air of the Glade welcomed me as I stepped outside. I scanned the area, looking for Alby. I found him with Newt over by the Slammer, so I hurried over to them. I slowed down as I reached them, clutching my injured stomach. It was aching from my earlier activities with Ben, and my grand escape from Thomas wasn't going to start helping it either.

I approached Alby and Newt, who both had their backs turned. While I was standing right behind them they had yet to notice me, they were in deep conversation.

I tugged back a smile and used the cheeriest voice I could muster "Hey guys! What's up?"

Alby's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards, a hand pressed against his chest above his heart. A high pitched squeal came from Newt who spun around towards me, raising his shovel and pausing mid-swing when he saw it was me.

Newt dropped the shovel and scowled at me "Ellie you are the biggest shank I have ever met, what the hell do you think you are doin'?"

I would have answered if I wasn't too busy laughing. I had doubled over and had my arms crossed over my ribs. I managed to get a few words out that sounded distinctly like "You screamed like a little five year old!"

Alby was good at hiding his smile, but I could see the laughter in his eyes. He turned to me and that laughter turned into concern "Shouldn't you be in bed resting? You got hurt when Ben attacked you."

I calmed myself before straightening up "I bleed out for five days a month with joint abdomen cramps. Trust me when I say that I'm fine."

Which was half the truth. I wasn't feeling fine, I felt like Hell.

Alby and Newt looked scandalised. They had looks of pure shock and disgust on their faces.

"Bloody hell, Ellie. You bleed for _five days _every month?! We need to get a Med-Jack right now to check you out!" Newt said, moving to go get help. I caught his arm, making him pause.

"Dude. Are you serious? It's just my period." I explained

"Your what?" Alby asked

"My- you know what? Nevermind." It dawned on me that these boys had probably been with WICKED for the most part of their lives, they weren't going to know what a period was.

So I opted for changing the subject "So what's going to happen to Ben?"

We all looked inside the Slammer, where Ben was currently sleeping.

Alby sighed "He broke one of the rules, so we're Banishing him."

"Wait, you mean you're throwing him out into the Maze?" I exclaimed, feigning confusion.

They both nodded.

"But you can't do that" I blurted.

"Oh? And why not? He broke one of our rules, Ellie. The shank hurt you." Newt reasoned.

"No shit, Sherlock," I deadpanned "But he was afraid. He remembered something that made him angry and he let his emotions take contol over him."

Newt narrowed his eyes at me "And what about you? If I remember correctly, Ben was sayin' how you weren't supposed to be here, and that you didn't exist. Care to explain that?"

He must have seen something on my face, because he took a step forwards, glaring at me "Well?"

Fortunately, Gally and Minho came to the recsue. They told us that it was almost time for the Banishing. Newt gave me one last look, clearly telling me that our conversation wasn't over, then went off with Gally.

Alby turned to me "Look Ellie, I know you don't like this, but the Keepers have all agreed on this. We have to show and example to the other Gladers. We need to keep things in order."

And with that, Alby headed off in the same direction as Gally and Newt.

Minho and I were the only two left. Minho looked over at me and gestured over to Ben "Mind lending me a hand?"

I shrugged "I don't see why not"

Together we took Ben by his arms and started dragging him to the East Door, where everyone had gathered. We had woken Ben up before we took him, and he started pleading with us, begging to be let go. With a heavy heart I ignored him, focusing on getting him to the East Door.

Everyone was staring at us upon our arrival. The Gladers were all holding those large sticks that I had seen when I watched the film. I wanted nothing more than to grab Ben our of Minho's clutches and run away. But I knew nothing good would come out of that.

I could see Thomas standing next to Chuck a little way away from the others. Thomas was making a point of ingoring me, looking anywhere else but me.

We walked past them all, and up to the East Door. Minho pushed Ben onto his knees and I let go of him. Minho manuvered himself so that he was standing in front of Ben and I followed suit.

Ben never stopped pleading us to let him go, and I felt hopeless. There was nothing I could do to change Alby's mind. I scratched the back of my neck, avoiding eye contact with anyone, especially Ben. I couldn't look him in the eyes knowing he was heading straight for his death.

I heard the walls shift behind me. Ben was no longer pleading with us anymore, he was whimpering. He looked terrified. Alby nodded at Minho, who in turn threw the bag he was carrying into the Maze. Minho grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away. He took us behind the other Gladers.

I heard Alby shout "Poles!" then all the Gladers carrying a pole started shoving Ben into the Maze. Looking over to where Thomas was, I could see Chuck was already leaving. For a moment I locked eyes with Thomas, who glared at me before looking away. Thomas was the last person I wanted to be angry with me. He was the first person I met in this place and to have him ignoring me made me feel like I was losing a good friend. But I couldn't say I didn't deserve it. Hurting Thomas like that wasn't going to come without consequences.

The Maze was almost closed now, and I could just about see Ben through the gap, before the doors shut.

A long silence fell over the Glade. Nobody was speaking to each other. Nobody was looking at each other. Just silence.

Alby was the first to break the silence. He spoke quietly "He belongs to the Maze now."

Everyone started to leave. I tried going over to Thomas, to explain my actions earlier, but he gave me a look that told me he didn't want to speak to me. He was gone before I could even reach him.

"You fighting with your boyfriend?" Came a voice behind me.

"He's not my boyfriend, Gally." I sighed and turned around to face Gally. We were the only two left by the Door.

Gally hesitated for a moment "Do you want to.. Talk about it?"

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips and I shook my head. It was almost cute how awkward he sounded. I could tell he was new to this kind of thing. I started walking back to the Homestead and Gally fell into step with me "So what happened?"

I bit my lip and muttered "I hit him in the face."

He paused for a second, then started guffawing. He managed to get out "You hit him? Man I wish I was there to see that!"

I glared at him "If you tell anyone about this, the next person I'll be hitting is _you_."

Gally raised his arms defensively "Don't worry, Greenie. Your secret's safe with me. So did you finally find him so annoying that you had to beat the crap out of him?"

I told Gally what happened. How I had to get away from Thomas otherwise he'd never let me leave the infirmary. My conversation with Alby and Newt, leaving the end bit about me of course.

"Look, Greenie. You seem like a good kid. You've got a big heart. But Ben tried to kill you and Thomas and that's something we don't tolerate here. It was our decision to Banish Ben and there was nothing you could have done to change that." Gally said.

I nodded "I guess not. But I had to at least try."

Gally reached over and ruffled my hair "When you see Thomas next, tell him that. If he's as amazing as you think he is, he'll understand"

I looked up at him "Thanks, man. You give really good advice."

"Eh, I try my best" He replied smugly.

Once we reached the Homestead, we said our goodbyes and parted ways. Later that night, the Gladers had gone back up to the wall to cross Bens name out, but I stayed behind to get some rest. I had been neglecting my stomach injury and now I was paying for it. It didn't take long for the sleep to take over and I fell into a nice, peaceful dream.

* * *

**Hello everyone! So I've had several requests from you guys asking me to make my chapters longer, so I'm going to start doing that.  
**

**Have a nice day!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz  
**


	10. I Find Myself In Trouble, Again

**Hey guys! So I've recently reached 100 followers, and I just want to thank those of you who have followed and favourited my story, those who left reviews for me and to everyone who took the time to read my story. And now that it's the Christmas holidays I can spend more time writing my stories, and less stressing about college!**

**I don't own _The Maze Runner _or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

* * *

I woke up early the next morning, I was the only person awake. I shifted into a different position in my hammock, grumbling about how inconvinient it was for me to be up this early. Once I was comfortable I closed my eyes and tried getting back to sleep.

About five minutes later, I heard someone gasp loudly. The moved themselves into a sitting position on their hammocks. I turned around to get a glimpse of the other poor Glader who had woken up at such an early hour of the morning.

"Thomas?" I whispered. He was taking deep breaths, as if he's come out of a nightmare of sorts. He looked over at me, and was about to say something but remembered he wasn't speaking to me and looked away.

A clunking noise filled the air. The Maze doors had shifted and were starting to open. I glanced over at Thomas "Do you think he made it?"

I knew he hadn't, but I just wanted to get Thomas to talk to me. He turned to me and said "Let's go find out."

We climbed out of our hammocks and made our way closer. Although Thomas pulled me back "Wait."

He pointed over to three figures by the Door. Minho, Alby and Newt. Alby and Minho were heading into the Maze. Oh boy, I knew what was coming. Now I had to decide what I was going to do about it. Would I be able to survive a night in the Maze? As much as I would have liked to stay out of it, I'd already made my mind. I was going in there. But there was a few things I needed to do first.

I turned to Thomas "Look, I know you're angry at me for what I did yesterday, but I only did it because I wanted to save Ben. I knew something bad was going to happen to him for attacking us and I wanted to stop it. And I-" I was cut off when Thomas pulled me into a hug. Without thinking about it I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back tightly.

He pulled away and looked straight into my eyes "You're my best friend, Ellie. I could never stay mad at you. You were only trying to help Ben and I understand that now."

I let out the breath I hadn't known I was holding. And I was feeling ecstatic that he thought of me as his best friend.

"That's great! But there's something I have to do so I'll see you later, yeah?" I didn't wait for his reply as I hurried into the Homestead. I found an empty bag in the infirmary and put two Griever serum tubes into it along with some bandages. I made my way into the weapons room and took knifes. And I then snuck into Frypan's kitchen and filled up two water bottles and slipped them into my bag.

I stowed the bag away, somewhere easy for me to accesss later. And then I went to go take another nap. I wasn't allowed to work again until my stomach heals.

* * *

I later found myself heading over to where Thomas, Chuck, Newt and another Glader were all talking. They seemed to be deep in conversation.

"So he's going to go back to where Ben was just stung-" I heard Thomas say

Newt cut him off "Alby knows what he's doing, alright? He knows better than any of us."

"What does that mean?" Thomas asked looking down at his knife.

"Well, it's like what you've heard. Once a month someone new is sent up in the Box. Someone had to be first, right?" Newt said

"And that was Alby, wasn't it?" I joined in the conversation "Alby was the first here and he spent a whole month by himself."

"Yeah, that's about it" Was Newts reply, he busied himself with the stump he was chopping with his knife. Thomas soon joined in, helping both boys with the stump.

Hours later we all found ourselves standing outside the Maze Door, they were going to close any minute now. As I had suspected, neither Minho or Alby had returned. My bag was resting on my back as I shifted between my feet. I felt like my legs were going to give way and I'd collapse onto the floor.

"Come on, guys, can't we sent someone in after them?" Thomas asked.

Gally shook his head "We can't, it's against the rules. Either they make it back or they don't "

I scoffed. I would be already in there looking for Minho and Alby if it weren't for that stupid rule. Newt glanced over at us "We can't risk loosing anyone else."

The doors started moving. They were running out of time. Thomas pointed towards something ahead of us "There!"

And there was Minho, dragging an unconscious Alby along with him. The rest of us were shouting at them to hurry. I turned to Thomas and whispered "We have to do something. They're not going to make it."

Thomas looked at me, before shifting his gaze towards the two boys still in the Maze. Thomas nodded "You're right. I'm gonna count to three, and we'll quickly run into the Maze. Understood?"

He nodded.

"One,"

I felt my heartbeat quicken. I wouldn't be surprised if it burst out of my chest.

"Two,"

This was it. It was really going to happen. I breathed in deeply.

"Three!"

We both took off without any warning to the others, so they were too late to grab us. They screamed our names as we ran but I blocked them out. We needed to do this. The gap kept getting smaller and smaller and for a moment I thought we'd never make it, but we did.

We fell to the floor, gasping for air. I rested my head on Thomas' shoulder. I was glad we made it. A death by being squished between a wall would not look good at all.

"Good job," Minho said from behind us "You've both just killed yourselves."

I lifted myself up and flashed Minho a smirk "It'll take a whole lot more than Grievers to take me out."

I knelt down next to Alby, opening my bag and pulling out one of the Griever Serums from my bag. Minho raised an eyebrow "Were you expecting this to happen?"

"No," I lied "but I was prepared for the worst. Now hold him down, both of you."

They held him down as I injected the Griever Serum into Alby. He thrashed and writhed in pain, luckily it didn't last for long. I stood up, wiping my hands on my legs. I walked over to one of the walls, grabbing one of the vines and tugging it sharply to test its strength.

"What are we going to do now?" I heard Thomas ask behind me.

"We need to get away from here. Grievers will be crawling all over the place by now and I don't want to be stuck around here when they come" Minho replied.

"But what about Alby?" Thomas snapped.

I turned to the two boys "Tie him up. We tie him up with these vines and lift him up into the air, out of any Grievers sight."

And we did just that. The three of us carried our friend through the maze. Every now and then, a Griever could be heard roaring in the distance, Minho would tense up more and more every time it happened. After a while we stopped, finding a good place to hide him. We tied Alby up with some vines, making sure they were secure. The three of us then started to pull him up.

It was going well until we heard the walls shifting. Minho loosened his grip on the vine we were pulling. In front of me Thomas asked "What are you doing? What's going on?"

I thought that maybe Minho had seen a Griever. He was panicking, urging us to leave Alby and run.

"No!" Thomas said "Just a little higher and we can tie him off."

I heard a Griever growl. It was getting closer. Minho yelped and tried to run but before he could even make it three steps away I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and sharply pulled him back. I sent him a glare that made him freeze where he stood "If you leave now, then you can explain to everyone in the morning how Alby died because you were too much of a coward to stay and help your friends. Don't you dare leave us now Minho, we need to stick together. We need to work as a team."

My words seemed to have sunk in, because Minho had joined us again and together we managed to get Alby high enough. We tied up the vine and fortunately our friend didn't fall.

The Griever was getting closer by the second. Thomas grabbed my arm and led me to the wall where we tied up Alby. He pushed some of the plants away and there was only just enough space under there for the three of us to hide. We silently beckoned Minho over and hid.

We had hidden just in time, as the Griever came around the corner. My heartbeat sped up erratically. I calmed my breathing as much as I could. It slowly walked past us, with each step taunting me. I had clutched Thomas' arm with a shaky hand. Even though I knew Thomas and Minho would survive the night, I couldn't say the same thing for myself. I could die in the maze and the story would simply unfold without me and I would have barely changed a thing.

After what felt like forever, the Griever finally left. We climbed out from out hiding place. Minho glanced at us "We should probably go before that thing comes back"

Thomas nodded and steps forwards, in the opposite direction of the Griever, Minho and I followed behind him. We had barely gone around a corner when Thomas stopped "Ugh! What the hell is this?"

I looked down to see Thomas' foot in the middle of something gooey. I was hoping we could have avoided this for a while longer but apparently I was out of luck. A low guttural growl could be heard from above us. The three of us simultaneously looked up. And just above us was a Griever. I opened my mouth to scream but it got caught in my throat, so I just stood there gaping, like a fish.

The Griever jumped from the wall and landed on the ground. We all stumbled backwards, Thomas tripped and almost fell, while Minho was muttering about our impending deaths. The Griever roared, reminding me that it was time to go. I grabbed the boys, shoved them forwards and we began running for our lives.

We ran down corridors, around corners. A lot of screaming was involved (Mostly from Thomas, of course) and no matter where we went the Griever was always there. At one point we paused, we had nowhere to swore. I hit him over the head. The Griever showed up and this time I swore. Thomas started running forwards, he launched himself onto the wall and clutched the vines. Minho and I did the same. We started climbing the wall with the Griever hot on our trail.

As we reached the top and heaved ourselves over the edge, we had to avoid getting stabbed by one of the Grievers legs. Ahead of us there was a gap in the path, giving us no choice but to jump over to the other side. And that's exactly what we did. Fortunately none of us fell through the gap, and we didn't hesitate to continue running. I knew we wouldn't be able to keep this up for the whole night. We were bound to get tired soon and I didn't want to know what would happen to us if we got caught.

I was so busy thinking that I almost ran straight of the edge of the wall we were on. An arm wrapped around my waist and tugged me back just in time. Thomas let go of me and motioned for the three of us to back up. He spoke in a low voice "We have to jump. There's not enough time for us to go back."

Minho and I didn't disagree. Going back would send us straight into the Grievers arms. Now personally I would have preferred to be back in Thomas' arms but I couldn't dwell on that at the moment.

This time, Minho took the lead. As we were nearing the edge, our Griever friend came around the corner. It was now or never. Mustering up as much energy as I could, I flung myself off the edge. Despite the situation at hand, I found myself grinning as I soared through the air. The excitement was taking over and I wasn't as afraid anymore. But that didn't last for long, because as we made it to the wall, the Griever jumped too, and he didn't miss the wall. My grasp slipped from the vine, stinging my hands. I knew what was coming next and I braced myself.

Having three teenagers and a Griever was too much for the vines, and it broke underneath us, sending the four of us tumbling down to the ground. We got tangled in vines, saving us from a painful death. My limbs felt like they were about to pop out from getting yanked around by the vines. When we reached the ground, I almost collapsed right then. I was exhausted, and my body ached all over. Minho took my the arm and helped my up onto my feet. He looked just as tired as I felt. He had a small cut on his cheek and his hair was ruffled. I had a feeling he was covered in bruises too.

The Griever was stuck in the vines, and we took that as our chance of escaping. We managed to get a bit of a head start before the Griever broke free from its restraints and came after us. While we were running down yet another corridor, I heard growling from above me. I looked up to see a Griever leaping from the wall. There was enough time for Thomas and Minho to pass by, but I was forced to stop as it landed before me. From behind it Thomas and Minho were screaming my name. The Griever had set its sight on me, so to save my friends I took off in another direction, without a clue as to what would happen to me next.


	11. When The Sun Rises

**So I've finally managed to overcome that writer's block I'd been suffering with, and managed to finish the chapter.**

**I remember one of you guys telling me that you really liked it when you got to see the situation through WICKED's point of view, so I decided to have another go at that. I hope you like it!**

* * *

(_Third Person_)

Assisstant Director Janson watched the monitor before him. The mystery girl was in the Maze, but now she had been seperated from the other Subjects. It was time to see what this girl was made of. Beside Janson sat Chancellor Paige, and her Personal Assisstant Lucinda.

They watched in silence as Ellie ran through the Maze. There were now three Grievers chasing after her. Janson knew for certain that the child wouldn't last the night, not by herself. The other subjects had been trained for these kind of situations yet not a single one of them had lasted the night. How could one small child survive what they couldn't?

"So is that it then? Are we just going to let the girl die?" Asked Lucinda.

Janson sneered at her "The sooner we get rid of the child, the better. She could ruin everything."

The Chancellor cut in before the argument could get any further "Maybe, but we are still unsure of where she came from. For now let's see how she copes out in the Maze."

Janson sent a glare in Lucinda's direction, relaxed back in his chair. He wasn't the only one who wanted to be rid of the child. Could the Chancellor not see how dangerous the child could be? The child could have been sent from the Red Army to jeopradize the experiment. She needed to be eliminated as soon as possible.

Soon enough, the child came across a dead end. With the Grievers hot on her trail, there was no time for her to escape. A wide grin made its way onto Jansons face. Finally, the child would be gone. Good riddance, he thought. He could hear Lucinda pleading with the Chancellor, trying to convince her to spare the child. As if the Chancellor would listen to the whining brat. He didn't even know why she was here in the first place. Lucinda's didn't ususally sit in for these things.

Janson was on the edge of his seat, watching as the Grievers closed in on the frightened child. Any moment now and she would no longer be existing. Not that there were any records of her existence to begin with.

Out of nowhere, another Griever came. More the merrier, Janson couldn't help but think. Although, what happened next surprised the adults. The Griever attacked the other Grievers, not the child. Jansons jaw dropped open as it tackled the closest Griever to it onto the ground.

"What's happening?" Asked the Chancellor in an alarmed tone "Who gave authorization for the Griever to attack the others?"

Lucinda was now standing up and talking into her earpiece. Janson blocked her out as he watched the rogue Griever tear into its victim. The second Griever that had chased after the child had gone after the rogue Griever. The third focused on its target, which Janson was thankful for.

The third Grievers stinger lunged at the child, and she dodged. She wouldn't be so lucky next time Janson thought. She was tired, she looked like she would collapse at any moment. The Grievers were built to be able to keep running throughout the night. But the second time the Griever lunged its stinger at the child, she grabbed onto it instead. Janson frowned, what was she doing?

When the Griever lifted its stinger, she was lifted up with it. She wrapped her legs around it, clinging tightly to it. The Griever tried shaking her off, but she refused to let go. To everyones surprise, she reached into the barrel on the tail end of the Griever, and with a bit of effort she pulled out the switch.

The Grievers legs gave way and it crumpled to the ground. The child got to her feet and stood back, wiping away the sweat on her forehead. Janson's eyes widened. The child was full of surprises, and they just kept getting bigger and bigger. If she knew how to dismantle a Griever, then what other secrets could the child possibly know?

The child was becoming more of a nuisance every minute. First, she arrived out of nowhere, then the Chancellor decides to keep her alive. And Janson had spent endless hours searching for her records, only to find there was none. Someone must have wiped it all out. Janson wanted nothing more than to get rid of her. It mattered little to him if she was killed.

Although, Janson couldn't just rule out the possibility that the child could be some sort of key to finding the cure. Maybe if he ran some tests on her, and then killed her? He was not going to let her ruin everything W.I.C.K.E.D had worked hard for, especially with all the progress they had made. After all, they did have a world to save.

* * *

_(Ellie's P.O.V)_

I was tired. My body ached. And my hand was covered in blubbery Griever goop.

The Griever that had defended me was finishing off the second Griever that had attacked it. When it was done, it turned towards me. It took a step closer to me. I took a step back. Now that the other Grievers were out of the way would it turn against me?

It stalked towards me and I backed up until a hit a wall. I shifted my feet into a position that would help me easily avoid the Griever if it attacked me. The Griever didn't stop until it was right in front of me. I could hear the gears whirring inside its metal body.

When the Griever reached me, it stood still. I wasn't sure how long we were stood like that, but instead of attacking me like I thought it would, the Griever simply turned and scurried away. My legs could no longer hold me up, and I collapsed to the floor. My whole body trembled as the adreneline finally wore off. The recent events had caught up to me and I wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and forget about all my problems.

Looking up at the sky, I could clearly see that it was morning. The gates would be open again once more. I knew Thomas and Minho had made it, they did in the book and I doubted I had changed much with what happened in the orignal timeline. Though if they had gone searching for me, or if they'd gone to fetch Alby I had no idea.

There was another problem. I didn't know how to get out of the Maze. I paid little attention to where I had been running, and now that had come back to bite me in the ass. If I didn't find my way out in time, I'd be spending another night in the dreadful Maze. I was dehydrated, tired and hungry. But I would have to ignore all those things and focus on escaping.

If only I had Minho with me, he knew the Maze better than anyone else. With him by my side we would get out of the Maze in no time, but he was better off helping Thomas. Better me than Thomas to get stranded alone. Using the wall as support, I lifted myself off the ground and began my long trek out of the Maze.

* * *

(Third_ Person)_

Thomas wanted to scream. He had lost his best friend in the Maze, and wasn't allowed to go find her. After he and Minho had tricked the Grievers off the Cliff, Minho had to literally drag Thomas out of the Maze, despite his loud protests.

"Look, the chances that she had actually made it are slim. I'm pretty sure the only reason we're not dead right now is because we stuck together." Minho told him.

Thomas didn't believe him. He didn't want to. But the small voice in the back of his mind said that Minho had a point. They had the Cliff there to help them get rid of the Grievers, what did Ellie have to defend herself?

_No_, Thomas thought. He had to trust that she would make it. She was stronger than Minho gave her credit for. If Thomas couldn't go out looking for her, then he would have to wait for her to come to him. But that still didn't stop him from thinking the worst.

They had found Alby and brought him back down from where they'd left him. Thomas knew they were close to the Maze entrance, where the other boys would be waiting for them no doubt. The last thing the other Gladers would expect was for anyone to show up that morning. No one ever survived a night in the Maze, not until now.

Slinging one of Alby's arms over his shoulder, Thomas hoisted Alby up. Minho held Alby up from his other side, and together they half carried, half dragged him out. Minho sighed "I'm sorry 'bout your girlfriend. Didn't know her that well, but the Greenie seemed nice enough."

Thomas didn't have the energy to answer him. To tell him that Ellie was in fact not his girlfriend. _Would it be so bad if she was? _asked a tiny voice in the back of his head. Thomas barely stopped himself from falling over at the thought, earning a concerned glance from Minho. What the hell was he thinking? He wasn't interested in her like that. At least, he thought he wasn't. _Besides_, Thomas thought dully, _She didn't- doesn't think of me like that_.

It didn't take long for them to reach the entrance. There the Gladers were, waiting for their return. They were all happy, relieved even. But none of that mattered to Thomas. All he could think of was Ellie. Was she dead? Could she still be alive, and injured? Crawling her way back in the hopes of making it to the gates before they sealed her away for another night?

The Med-Jacks came and took Alby away. They told Thomas and Minho that they needed to check them over too, not that Thomas was paying much attention. There was too much noise. He could barely hear himself think over the other Gladers. It was almost suffocating. One sentence in particular stood out.

"Where's Ellie?"

He didn't know who said it. In the corner of his eye he saw Minho shake his head. And then there was silence. The atmosphere became tense, Thomas felt the gazes of the Gladers on him, but he dared not to meet any of their eyes.

"I'm sorry, Thomas."

"That's bad luck, Greenie."

"The poor Shank."

"Shame for her to meet her end like that."

A hand fell on his shoulder. Thomas looked up. Newt. His eyes full of sorrow and concern.

"Are you alright, Tommy?" Newt asked, but he already knew the answer to that question. He just needed Thomas to say something. Anything.

"I'm fine." Came Thomas' reply. Thomas knew Newt could see right through the lie, so he was grateful that Newt didn't call him out on it.

Soon enough, the Gladers left. They had jobs to do after all. The only ones left were Thomas and Chuck, who refused to leave until the gates closed. When the others had left, Thomas told him the events of that night. How they hid Alby away, how they got split up from Ellie. He'd given Chuck hope that she may still be alive. Maybe he shouldn't have, but Thomas was desperately clinging to the same hope.

The hours passed slowly, and still no sign of her. Newt, Minho and even Gally had come up to them, trying to get them to come away from the gates. To make them accept that Ellie wouldn't be coming back. They had to resort to physically picking them both up and drag them away. Of course Thomas and Chuck put up a big struggle.

But them something happened. A loud shuffling noise echoed off the Maze walls, which was joined with the sound of heavy breathing.

Around the corner, came Ellie. Her hair ruffled, covered in dirt. Several cuts and bruises littered her visible skin. Her eyes connected with Thomas', and a huge smile broke out onto her face. Tear welled up in her eyes. Thomas too was smiling. Newt and Gally's grasp on him had loosened with shock, and Thomas broke free from them.

And for the second time, Thomas broke the first rule and ran into the Maze, ignoring his aching feet. The moment he reached Ellie, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He felt her arms shakily return the gesture and they stayed like that for a while. Not thinking on the terrors of the night before, but focusing on the comfort they gave each other.

* * *

**And there you have it, chapter 11. Let me know what you guys think.  
**

**Have a nice day!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


	12. The Newcomer

Not long after I'd made my courageous escape from the Maze, I was confined to the Med Bay. I really needed to stop getting myself there. With the number of times I was getting injured I fear they may make the bed my permanent place to rest. Alby resided on the bed to my right, he was out cold. He would be like that for a while, I was sure of it.

Thomas was sat in a chair next to my bed, fast asleep. I grinned. Creeping up to him as closely as I could without waking him, I shouted "Wake up!"

Later, Thomas would deny the fact that he screamed.

Thomas leapt out of his chair in shock, the chair almost falling over. Turning to face me, he exclaimed "Ellie, what the shuck?!"

There were tears in my eyes. At that point I was hunched over laughing. I pointed at him "Oh my god! You should've seen your face."

He arms were crossed and he refused to look at me, glaring at the floor. His face was also tinged red. I couldn't fight back a smile "Don't be like that, I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. You know what I'm like."

I could see the corners of his lips tugging upwards. He finally looked at me "You need to be in bed resting."

"Probably, but what fun would that be?"

Thomas shook his head. He sat down on the bed, and I lifted myself up so I was sitting next to him. Thomas shifted to face me. All the playfulness was gone, he looked hesitant, opening his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something. And as cute as it was to see him struggle, I was seriously going to smack him over the head if he wouldn't start talking.

I sighed "Thomas-"

"What happened to you yesterday? In the maze?" He asked.

He must have seen the look on my face because he started to panic "You-you don't have to tell me anything, sorry. I shouldn't have asked you that."

Thomas stood up and was about to walk off. Before he could even take two steps away, I grabbed his hand, pulling him back onto the bed. He stumbled a bit, landing on the bed awkwardly.

I started to tell him what happened that night. Being corner by the Grievers, another Griever showing up and saving me. I told him how terrified I was, alone in the Maze trying to find my way back, knowing that if I didn't get there on time I'd have been trapped for another night.

At some point, Thomas had moved closer to me so we were shoulder to shoulder. He'd wrapped one arm around me. I also will not admit that I may have leant into his embrace. Nope, it did not happen.

When I'd finished, I looked up. Big mistake. Thomas was closer to me than I had thought, and I found that my nose was almost touching his. We both froze instantly, neither one of us moving away. My eyes were wide. I totally refused to let my gaze wander down to his lips.

"Ellie," Thomas said in a low voice "I-"

We were interrupted by footsteps hitting the floor loudly. I jerked away from Thomas just in time for Minho to appear in the room.

"Hey Greenie, that meeting's about to happen. You need to get to the... Oh, she's awake." Minho was looking past Thomas, right at me.

I shot up from the bed, running a hand through my hair "Yep. That's me. Awake. So, what's this meeting?"

"Uh, well you and your boyfriend here kinda broke the first rule. You know, the one where you're not supposed to go into the Maze?"

"I don't see you complaining about being alive. Next time, you all can save your own asses," I walk past Minho, then pause "And he's not my boyfriend, you shank!"

There were two things I knew for sure. One, I have somehow developed a crush on Thomas (Can you really blame me?). Two, Minho was a dead man for ruining whatever the hell had just happened between Thomas and me.

(SCENE BREAK)

Gally was going to be a dead man too. Screw trying to help him, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the little shank wanted both Thomas' and my heads on a stick. He had the gall to tell us that we were going to ruin everything when the only thing we did was risk our own lives to save Alby and Minho.

If it weren't against the rules to hurt another Glader, Gally would have been sporting a bloodied nose already.

"-and now he's gone and killed one of them" Gally was saying.

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably "Um, there's three more dead Grievers, by the way.."

Everyone turned to face me, with various looks of shock and disbelief. I smiled sheepishly "Surprise?"

"See? Now we have four dead Grievers." Gally gestures towards me. Yeah, I probably didn't make things much better. Whoops.

Newt, who had been leaning against a post spoke up "What do you suggest we do?"

Gally shrugged "They have to be punished."

Everyone in the room started speaking at once. I couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Excuse me? You want to punish us? Just because we actually had the balls to go out there and make a difference, to save our friends, it doesn't justify you punishing us. Yeah, we might have broken a rule, but we saved two lives.

"And sure, things are different now that Thomas and I are here. Have you considered that it could be a good thing? Maybe different is what we need to get out of this place. You all spend all day, everyday, doing the same thing. Wake up, eat breakfast, go out and do your job then you go to bed. You could continue playing house if you want to. But like you said things are changing. You either change with it or you get left behind."

My arms were crossed and I been sending Gally one of my deadliest glares. It was enough to make him falter for a second. Newt looked over to Minho "You were with them in the Maze, what do you think?"

"I think that in all the time we've been here, no one's ever killed a Griever before. Let alone three. When I tried to turn tail and run, Ellie grabbed me. She gave me the scariest look I'd ever seen and forced me to stay. Look, I don't know if they're brave or stupid. But whatever it is, we need more of it." I had never felt more proud of Minho, sticking up for us like that.

Minho's eyes flickered in our direction "I say we make them Runners."

Now everyone was speaking over each other again. They all thought Minho was insane for thinking such a thing. But from across the room, I saw Newt smile.

"If you want to throw the newbies a parade that's fine," Gally spoke over the crowd "Go ahead. But if there's one thing I know about the Maze, it is that you do not-"

He was interrupted by a strange noise. It was loud and I didn't recognise it instantly. Then it hit me. Teresa.

I was out the door without a second thought, Newt and Gally close behind me. We were the first three to the box, and I stood back whilst the boys opened up the box. I pushed myself forwards and jumped into the box, crouching next to Teresa.

I heard shouts from above.

"Who is it?"

"What do you see?"

I couldn't help but pause for a dramatic effect. I looked up at everyone, putting on my best shocked expression "It's a girl."

I bit back a grin at all the shocked gasps that followed.

"Is she dead?" Newt asked.

I reached over to shake her but stopped when I saw the note in her hand. I plucked it out of her cold grasp, unfolded the note and read aloud "She's the last one ever."

I was just about to say something else when suddenly Teresa jolted awake, clutching onto my arm. I screamed. Teresa looked up at everyone, breathing heavily.

"Thomas." Was all she said. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she was out again.

Everyone turned to look at Thomas.

"Damn, it's like the world really does revolve around Thomas." and with that, I totally ruined the moment.


	13. The Keeper of Good Advice

Teresa had been carried off to the Med Bay with Newt, Thomas, and Minho. I opted to wait outside, knowing that Thomas would be back out soon enough. Teresa was here, was all I could think about. She came along with her little message of doom. I didn't know what to do with her. I knew there was no way in hell I was letting her go through what she did at the end of the last book. But what of her betrayal. Do I let her? Should I stop her?

Seeing Teresa was like being doused in icy water. It dawned on me that it wouldn't be long until we escaped the Maze, until we were out in the Scorch. Until we were vulnerable to the Flare. I could steer the others away from finding the way out of the Maze, keep them all safe in the Glade. Something told me that even if I tried anything, they'd still get out regardless.

What would happen between Thomas and me? Would he spend more time with her and less with me? Would Thomas be more concerned-

I forced myself to stop in the middle of that thought. What the hell was wrong with me? Of course, he'd worry about Teresa, the first thing she'd said was his name. Not to mention that he recognised her.

When Thomas did come out, he looked like he was on a mission. I joined him as he walked by.

"Hey, Thomas, hey!" Minho appeared in front of us, pushing Thomas back a step "What is this with you, huh? A death wish?"

I snorted "It took you this long to figure it out?"

"You just got out, and now you want to go back in?" Minho asked, completely ignoring me. Rude.

Thomas looked just about done with everything. He sighed "Newt said that no one has ever seen a Griever and lived to tell about it, right?"

"Well, actually they have, remember when Newt showed us that Griever through the window.." Seeing the look Thomas gave me, I trailed off "But yeah sure, no one's ever seen one. Carry on."

"Guys, now we have a Griever, a dead one," Thomas said, pointing towards the Maze "You're telling me you're not even a little bit curious."

Minho looked at Thomas like he was insane "Not really, no."

Thomas shook his head and went to walk away but Minho stopped him again "So what's the plan? You gonna go in there and dissect that thing all by yourself?"

"I will if I have to," Thomas replied.

"He won't be alone, he'll have me," I said.

Both boys turned towards me. Thomas was the first to speak "You're not going, Ellie."

My jaw dropped. How dare they? I scoffed "Of course I'm bloody going. I'm just as capable as any of the other boys in this damned place. You're not the only ones who survived a night in the Maze, and I was alone."

Mostly alone, but I wasn't going to tell them that.

"We're not saying you can't handle it, because really, you can. But it was only yesterday that you came out, thirsty and exhausted. You need to rest." As much as I didn't want to admit it, Minho had a point. I was still tired from what had happened, my body ached all over.

I crossed my arms and glared at the floor "Fine. Have it your way. Next time, I'm going with you."

I walked away from them. If I were to stay with them any longer, I didn't know what I'd do to them. I was beyond angry that the refused to let me go, even if I was tired from yesterday's events.

If there was one thing for certain, it was that I wasn't going to spend the rest of the day standing around being absolutely useless. Oh no, there were things I needed to get done, and I had plans to make. People to save.

That's why I headed towards Gally. I completely ignored the stares from Thomas and Minho, I was done with them for the moment. When I reached Gally, I took him by the arm and led him away from his group of friend paying no attention to his protests.

Before we left his friends, I turned towards the now retired Runners "If you lot are simply gonna give up being Runners just because Alby got stung, then you're a bunch of cowards. At least we got people like Thomas and Minho who are not gonna give up on trying to get everyone out of here."

I didn't wait to see their expressions. I continued to drag Gally away, only feeling a little guilty for what I said to his friends. I'd only said those things out of anger, even though what I'd said was true. Sometimes I lashed out at people when I was angry, I didn't mean to but it would just happen.

We stopped in the kitchen. I was hungry and hadn't eaten since I was too busy at the meeting and finding Teresa. After getting a nice hot bowl of soup from Frypan, I sat down at an empty table and motioned for him to sit down. He took the seat across from me.

"So," Gally said hesitantly as if sensing my mood "What's the point of all this?"

"To talk to you about getting everyone out of this place," I answered.

"Look, I don't think-" He started to speak but I cut him off.

"We have to get out of here. It's not safe! If you think things are bad now, it's going to get a lot worse."

Gally glared at me "But we are safe here. We have food, water, shelter. The danger is out there, in the Maze. You and your Greenie boyfriend have gone and ruined things, going out and killing Grievers. If they decide to retaliate for you two shanks killing their own, how are we supposed to defend ourselves?"

"Have you ever considered that all of you being here is some kind of test? An experiment? If you were meant to stay here, then surely WICKED would have told you so. They would have told you why you shouldn't leave. They wouldn't have made a way out. There's no point in making a gigantic Maze if nobody's meant to figure how to get past it."

"You. You keep saying it like you're not one of us. Why?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

I sighed "Hey, I'm just as trapped here as you are. Whatever it is you're thinking, stop. Because I'm not with them, I'm with Thomas and whoever is going to stand by with us. Are you with us, Gally? Because when the time comes, when we find a way out, you're going to have to make a choice. You either stand with us and escape, or you stand against us and try to stop us."

"People are going to get hurt," Gally said, he was no longer looking at me. He focused his gaze on the table, staring at it with an unreadable expression.

"They're going to get hurt either way. If we all stay together, then it's easier for us to watch out for everyone. What I want the most is to save as many of the boys as I can, and I know you feel the same way. You may act like a complete ass all of the time-"

"Gee, thanks" Gally cut in.

I ignored him "But deep down you really do care for the others. You want to keep them safe. Help me keep them safe, Gally."

He was quiet for a minute. The only sound that could be heard was me loudly slurping my delicious soup.

When Gally did answer, he looked up at me and I could see the determination in his eyes "Fine. I'll help you however I can to get out of here and to keep everyone safe."

A smile broke out of my face. So maybe he wasn't actually an ass all the time after all! Gally stood up and made to leave the kitchen. He paused in the doorway "By the way, don't you know how eat your soup quietly? It's disgusting."

I take it back. He's the biggest ass of them all.

* * *

Thomas and Minho were gone for an hour. They took Frypan, Winston and Zart with them. I was also still angry with them both for leaving behind. The moment they came back, another meeting was held. This time, only the Keepers were allowed to attend. Thomas needed to be there and I just kind of showed up, glaring at anyone who tried to make a protest. In the end, they let me be.

"We found this, it was inside a Griever," Thomas said, handing a device to Newt.

Newt glanced up from looking at the device "These are the same letters we find on our supplies."

"Yeah. Whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers. This is the first really clue, the first anything you've found in over three years. Right, Minho?" Thomas asked.

I sent a meaningful look to Gally, who promptly ignored me.

"Right." Minho nodded.

Thomas directed his attention to Newt "We gotta go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us"

I saw Gally and Newt exchange looks. Oh, so he'd share secret glances with him, but not me?

"You see what he's trying to do right? First he-" I cut Gally off with an elbow to his stomach "-I mean yeah, sure. The sooner we find a way out, the better."

Everyone gave us confused looks. What Gally had said was probably the most unlike Gally thing I had ever heard him say. I was too busy smiling smugly at Gally that I missed Thomas's eyes darting between us while scowling.

Gally wasn't done speaking though he gestured towards Thomas and I "These shanks, they need to be punished. They broke our number one rule."

What.

My smile instantly dropped. Now he was the one smirking. Every time I thought that maybe he was a cool guy, he'd go ahead and say something stupid.

I spoke up "Um, we spent an entire night being chased by Grievers. If that's not a punishment then I don't know what is."

I put on my best puppy dog expression, then looked at Newt. It was up to him to decide what happened to us. He caught my look and shifted uncomfortable, diverting his gaze away from me. Newt stepped towards Minho and handed him the device "Gally's right. Thomas and Ellie broke the rules. One night in the pit, no food."

Gally opened his mouth to protest but I stepped on his foot. I heard him hiss quietly.

"And since we can't have non-Runners running around in the Maze, I'm going to make it official. Starting tomorrow, Thomas is a Runner." Newt added.

I raised an eyebrow "What about me? I want to be a Runner, too!"

Newt closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and looked at me "I'm sorry, Ellie. But after some discussion, we decided that it would be best if you didn't become a Runner."

I was about to ask who he had a 'discussion' with but stopped when I caught his eyes flickering to Thomas and Minho, who were avoiding eye contact with me. Who were they to make that decision for me?

There wasn't enough time for me to start a riot, as Newt called for the meeting to end. He left before I could say anything. I tried to find him, but he disappeared. I made an attempt to find Minho and Thomas, but they were also gone.

Someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned to see Gally. He rubbed the back of his neck "I'm not sure why I'm saying this, but I wouldn't be so mad at them if I were you. They just want to protect you."

I threw my hands up in the air "I can do that perfectly fine myself. I'm no damsel in distress, I don't need them holding my hand at every sign of danger."

"I know that. Shuck, I'm sure everyone in the Glade knows that. You can be pretty scary when you want to be. Just remember that for a while, everyone thought you were dead. Thomas and Minho both came back without you, even they thought you didn't make it. They don't want to risk the same thing twice."

"Damn it, you're right. And I'm never saying that again. It doesn't make things alright, though, they went ahead and made that decision without me. They should have talked to me about it."

A comfortable silence fell over us. Maybe it was better for me not to go with them. I knew what would happen, I knew they would do what they needed to do. So instead I'd stay in the Glade, gather my strength. Wait for Teresa to wake up so we could have a nice little chat.

"Forget being Keeper of the Builders, you should be Keeper of Good Advice. Treasure that compliment because it's gonna be the last one you ever get from me, also let's not go around telling everyone that I'm actually capable of giving compliments. It's bad for business." I said.  
"As long as you don't go telling everyone that I give good advice, we have a deal."

* * *

**Oh my god, you guys. I've written two chapters and have posted them within the same week! Although, I had gone on my laptop to do photography today and ended up writing this instead. Can't you see how I am such a great student? I'm going to fail my A levels.  
**

**I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I can,  
**

**Have a nice day!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


	14. Raise A Little Hell

I was hanging around the Glade, minding my own business, when I saw something odd. One of the Gladers was creeping up a tree that had ladders built around it. I narrowed my eyes at the figure, which one of the guys had long hair like that?

Then I heard shouting from the Homestead "The girl is gone!"

Oh. Not one of the guys then.

With nothing else to do, I decided to follow her up. She didn't notice me until I'd reached the top. When she did, she lifted a rock, aiming it at me.

"If you throw that rock at me, I'll shove the damn thing down your throat." That's me. Ellie 'so good at first impressions' Smith. It seemed to work, though, as she lowered the rock.

"You're not a boy." She stated bluntly.

I cracked a smile "I should hope not, there's enough of those idiots running around already."

"Who are you?" She asked, never even smiling at my joke. I was offended, my jokes were like the only source of entertainment around here.

"I'm Ellie. Hi!" I waved at her "And you?"

She hesitated for a moment "Teresa."

"You're not a woman of many words, are you?"

I never knew if she was going to reply to that (I don't think she would have) because soon the others caught onto the fact that she was up here and were now crowding the tree.

From below, I heard Gally shout "You need to come down here right now, Greenie!"

Teresa's response was to throw a rock at him.

"Ouch," I observed casually "That's gonna bruise later."

I had no idea where all the rocks came from. They were just there. Teresa didn't seem to have a problem with that, though. She was too busy hurtling them at the boys. Some had been smart enough to get something to cover them, now all of the boys were hiding under their shields.

"Leave me alone!" Teresa shouted.

I couldn't resist adding a "Yeah, leave her alone you shanks!"

"Ellie, get her to stop!" Newt said as he covered his face with his arms.

"I have an even better idea" I picked up one of the rocks.

Newt saw this "No. No, no no. Ellie you put that rock down or-"

He was interrupted by my rock hitting him in the chest. I would have felt guilty if he had let me become a Runner, but he didn't, so I was guilt free. Teresa and I had teamed up, throwing rock after rock at the boys. Further away in a safe distance, I could see Chuck laughing his ass off.

"Hey, throw one more of those things- Ow!" Gally was cut off by Teresa's rock knocking him on the head.

Teresa was making threats, tossing rock after rock at those poor boys. It was hilarious.

I heard one specific voice over the rest "Hey, it's Thomas! It's Thomas!"

We both paused in our rock throwing. After sharing a glance with each other, we both peeked over the edge. And there he was. Thomas. I threw a rock at him. It hit the most unpleasant place. He hunched over, clutching his dearly beloved. Everyone who had seen it, including me, winced as Thomas squeezed his eyes shut "Ellie!"

"Sorry!" I called sheepishly.

He straightened himself up, his arm hovering over the lower half of his body "I'm gonna come up, Okay?"

Teresa and I both backed up and waited. From the corner of my eye, I saw Teresa bring out a knife. Where had she been keeping that? I didn't bother telling her she didn't need to use it. I was still mad at Thomas, too.

The hatched lifted up and Thomas appeared. Upon seeing Teresa's knife, his eyes widened "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, just. Easy, all right?"

She didn't even lower it an inch "Where am I? What is this place? Why can't I remember anything?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. If she had wanted to know, she could have asked me.

"This is all normal, okay? We've all been through this. Isn't that right, Ellie?" I narrowed my eyes at him. Teresa looked over at me and I nodded.

"Your name will come back to you in a couple of days" He said

"It's Teresa" Both Teresa and I spoke at the same time.

Thomas frowned "What did you say?"

"Teresa. My name it Teresa."

"Well Teresa, my name's Thomas. But you already knew that though, I guess."

Teresa's eyes flickered down "They said I kept saying your name in my sleep. Who are you?"

"I don't know. I, I can't remember. None of us here remember anything. We all woke up here, just like you did." Thomas replied, shifting uncomfortably.

I looked away from Thomas. Not all of us don't remember anything.

"You can trust him" I muttered, not looking at him.

Teresa let Thomas take the knife from her and he threw it out of reach.

"What's going on up there?" Interrupted Gally from below.

Thomas stood up to get a better look at his friends.

"Are they coming down?" Newt asked.

"Um.." Thomas trailed off. He and Teresa exchanged looks.

I huffed, pulling myself up to my feet. I resisted the urge to glare at Teresa "I'll go down. You two stay and- chat, I guess."

Without waiting for a response, I started climbing down. At the bottom, I was greeted by Newt, Gally, Chuck and Minho.

"Thomas is gonna stay up there with Teresa and tell her everything she needs to know." Was the first thing I said to them.

"Just when we thought you were enough trouble on your own, another girl arrives and the two of you team up against us. It's a bloody nightmare." Newt shook his head.

Minho smiled, "At least we got your boyfriend to go make peace for us."

I sent a glare to the top of the tree, where Thomas and Teresa were sitting "For the last time, he isn't my goddamn boyfriend."

I stalked off, only to have the four boys catch up to me. Minho gently nudged me "Could've fooled me with the way you're getting all jealous over him and Teresa."

"Oh, really? With they way you're always around Thomas, spending time with him alone, I thought you were his boyfriend." I retorted.

The boys had different reactions. Minho stopped walking, his jaw dropping open. Newt snorted, a large grin appearing on his face. Chuck stifled his laugh, hiding it behind his hand. Gally didn't even bother hiding it and full out guffawed.

Gally clapped Minho on the back "Ya know, that would explain so much."

Minho spent the rest of the day sending angry looks to Newt, Gally, Chuck and I.

* * *

I wasn't sure how long Thomas and Teresa had been talking, but it had been a while before I saw them approach me. Thomas showed me two small syringes full of blue liquid "We need to inject Alby with one of these."

I blinked owlishly. What did they expect me to be able to do about it? "Right. Okay. You're telling me this because?"

"Are you gonna help us or not?" Teresa asked.

My brows furrowed for a moment "Wow. Uh, yeah sure. But shouldn't we get Newt first?"

"You take these and head to the Med By. We'll get Newt." Thomas never waited for a reply, he took off with Teresa.

Not knowing what else to do, I went over to the Med Bay. Inside I found Clint, the Keeper of the Med Jacks. I told him that we had to wait for Newt to arrive before I would say anything. When Newt did arrive, Thomas and Teresa were close behind him. I let them explain to Clint what was going on.

"We don't even know what this stuff is, we don't know who sent it. Or why it came up here with you. For all we know, this could kill him." Newt protested.

I placed a hand on his shoulder "Look at him, Newt. He is dying. I say we give this a shot. See what happens."

Newt looked from Alby to me. We held eye contact for a few moments. He finally caved in "All right. Do it."

Thomas took one of the syringes from Newt. He crouched down in front of Alby. He turned towards us and muttered "Okay."

Alby's eyes suddenly shot open and he reached out grabbing Thomas. Alby shook Thomas "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here!"

Newt and Clint rushed to Thomas' aid. They pulled Alby's arms away from Thomas.

"Get the syringe!" Newt exclaimed.

I saw Teresa step forwards to grab it. But I was closer and quicker. Stealing Teresa's moment, I took the syringe from Thomas and jabbed it into Alby's upper arm. Alby relaxed, falling back into sleep. We all backed up heavily catching our breath.

Clint broke the silence "Well, that worked."

Newt pinned us all with a hard look "From now on, someone stays here with him and watches him around the clock."

I grinned, "Aye, aye, Captain."

"Hey," came a voice from behind us, we turned to see Gally "Sundown, Ellie, Greenie. Time to go."

Damn, I was hoping he'd forget about that.

With a sigh, Thomas followed Gally out. I walked in between them in the hopes of preventing an argument. No such luck.

"What is your problem with me?" Thomas asked Gally.

"Everything started going wrong the minute you showed up," Gally replied.

I raised an eyebrow "You don't seem to have much of a problem with me, I showed up the same time he did."

"Yeah, but unlike this shank, you're actually likeable."

I mock gasped "Why Gally, was that just a compliment I heard?"

I saw Gally roll his eyes "Shut up."

We reached the pit. Gally opened up the first cell, motioning for me to climb in. I sent one last pleading look to Gally, then stepped into the cell. Just as Gally was about to close the door, Thomas pushed past him and climbed in too.

Gally glared at him "You're supposed to go in the other-"

"Just leave him, Gally. I don't mind." I cut him off. Gally stared at me for a few seconds.

"You know what? Fine. Whatever." He slammed the door shut and locked it. He left us without another word.

When Gally left, he took the torch with him. We only had a little light coming in from the moon now. I heard Thomas take a seat next to me "You and Gally seem kinda close. You two a thing?"

There was a tone in his voice, one I couldn't quite read. It sounded quite edgy. I tilted my head towards him slightly "You are Teresa seem kinda close. You two a thing?"

I heard Thomas shift "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The same thing you meant when you asked about me and Gally."

"There's nothing going on between Teresa and I. I barely know her."

"But you two do know each other. You recognised her, didn't you? If she knew you, then maybe I'm correct in saying that you knew her too."

Silence. I knew I was right, simply because I'd read it. Because I had read it in the book. I just needed him to talk to me, to open up.

"Yeah. I recognised her, all right?" Thomas began telling me about his dreams. The ones where he'd seen Teresa and a blonde woman. Chancellor Paige.

I hadn't given the woman much thought. She was the person in charge of what happened in these experiments. Although I found myself more concerned about the Ratman. Or Janson, but I felt Ratman suited him better. What did they think, seeing some random girl they don't even know show up and mess shit up. Would they separate me from the group when we escaped? I wasn't one of them after all. Did they think I was from the Right Arm? Here to gather info.

"El? Ellie!" Thomas' voice snapped me back to attention.

"What?"

"I said what about you and Gally?"

"Oh," I ran a hand through my hair "There's nothing about us. I mean I like him, but I don't like him, ya know?"

Thomas let out a breath of air he seemed to have been holding "Oh thank God. That's great because-"

He'd forced himself to stop mid-sentence. My head whipped in his direction "Because?"

It was then Chuck showed up, with a torch in hand. Thomas latched onto the distraction desperately. Bloody hell, what was Thomas going to say? Now don't get me wrong, I knew that it usually meant that they were interested in you, but what if I were wrong? I could kiss him, and he'd pull back because he had intended to say that he was glad I wasn't with a jackass like Gally. I was not risking my friendship with Thomas over this one little thing. Although if he wanted to kiss me, who was I to complain?

I shook my head, a scowl forming on my face. There was no way I'd be getting my hopes up. Thomas would only ever see me as a friend, the girl who entered the Maze with him. For now, I'd push those feelings away, I couldn't get too involved with the people in this world, I just needed to save them all and go home. Home to where my family were waiting for me. I ignored the small voice in the back of my mind that wondered if I would even live to make it back to my world.

My newfound feelings for Thomas were a distraction. And I couldn't afford distractions if I were to be trying to make sure no one here died.

* * *

**Hey guys! Have I mentioned how surprised I am that there are so many of you who have been reading my story? This story's slowly becoming one of the top followed storys in the Maze Runner section and words cannot describe how amazed I am by this. Thank you all so much for being so very supportive of my work so far! You have no idea how much you guys brighten my day when you leave lovely little reviews or I find a new follower/favourite. I honestly can't thank you all enough for this.  
**

**I was planning on posting this chapter earlier today, but I found myself watching the Wales vs. England football match of all things. I had never watched a football match before but it was so bloody intense. And Wales lost, so that wasn't very fun for me. Still prefer Quidditch, though.**

**I loved writing this chapter, I really think Ellie and Teresa would be good friends but at the moment Ellie's a bit conflicted with realising she has feelings for Thomas and knowing he and Teresa have a thing for each other. Naturally, instead of trying to calm Teresa down and avoid the rock throwing, she teams up with her and causes twice the amount of chaos.**

**Have a nice day!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


	15. Trouble In Paradise

I found myself in an awkward situation the following morning. Thomas wanted to talk to me about last night, that much was clear. But I wanted to pretend nothing happened before Chuck showed up. Getting too involved with Thomas would make it difficult for when this was all over and I had to go home. I couldn't have anything holding me back.

My gaze studied the ground. Thomas was looking at me, I could feel it. I just didn't want to deal with it all right now. He deserved someone else, someone who wasn't keeping big secrets from him.

"Ellie-" He started.

But I cut him off "-Thomas, look. I get it, I really do. You've been good to me since we both woke up in that box together and I'm glad I had such a great _friend_ being there with me."

Not once did I look at him when I spoke. I didn't want to see how he'd react. If Thomas was feeling grief or relief, I couldn't bring myself to see it, because either way, it would break my heart.

"Right, um. Yeah, yeah of course. You're my best friend and I'm- I'm happy that you're always there for me." I felt myself inwardly wince at Thomas' words. I'd gone and made things even more awkward. I should never have said anything. Should've kept my mouth shut.

"Big day, Greenie," A voice interrupted our awkward silence. We both looked up to see Minho "You sure you don't want to sit this one out?"

I scoffed "Just get us the hell outta here, Minho!"

After Minho let us both free, he took Thomas away to get ready to head into the Maze. And of course, they still refused to let me even take a step into it. Those damn boys. I waited for them at the Maze entrance, which had yet to open.

When the pair approached the entrance, Minho sighed "Ellie, you can't-"

"I know, I know. It's just. I- Bloody hell. Just be safe out there, yeah?" I directed my gaze at Thomas "_Both_ of you."

Before I could chicken out, I pulled Minho into a quick hug. For a second he was surprised, but he returned the hug. I hugged Thomas next, and if anyone asked about it later, I would refuse to admit that I had held Thomas longer than I had Minho.

A sly smirk reached Minho's face "Why Ellie, dear. You're not _worried_ about us, are you? No need to fret, I'll watch out for your boyfriend for you."

"-He's not my boyfriend!"

"-She isn't my girlfriend!"

I was sure that my face was a red as Thomas' was. I was also sure that Minho was a dead man walking. A scowl was sent in Minho's direction "Gah! I don't know why I even bothered coming over here to see you bloody shanks."

I stormed past them, making sure to bump into Minho's shoulder on my way. If I spent any more time around him I'd be banished for breaking the Glade rules.

"She totally likes you."

_"MINHO_."

* * *

"I hate this."

"Yes, as you've mentioned for the eighth time today, Ellie," Newt grumbled.

I pouted "I could be out there helping Thomas and Minho, but no, I'm stuck here digging up weeds."

Honestly, I was glad not to be out in the Maze. I knew exactly what the boys would be facing out there today. There wasn't any need for me to risk my life out in the Maze when I knew Thomas and Minho could get the job done just fine. I was only complaining about it because after arguing with the others about it, it wouldn't look right if I stopped wanting to go in there completely.

"If we let you in there, you'd probably take on all the bloody Grievers yourself," Newt said.

I raised an eyebrow at him "And that would be a bad thing because..?"

Before Newt could answer, an alarm rang through the Glade. Ah, Minho and Thomas were on their way back, then.

"What the shuck was that?" Newt asked aloud.

I turned my head towards the Maze entrance "Knowing those two, trouble."

Abandoning the weeds, I brought myself to my feet and started heading towards the entrance. Newt caught up with me, grasping my arm "Where are you going?"

"To wait for Thomas and Minho, they've obviously found something so they should be back soon."

"..Right. Makes sense, I suppose."

It didn't take long for the other Gladers to show up and crowd around the entrance.

"I bet this is because of Thomas." I heard Gally say from beside Newt.

Newt shook his head "Gally, you can't just blame everything on Thomas."

"Even though it probably is his fault," I smirked.

"Ellie, don't side with Gally on this." Newt sighed.

I chuckled lightly "Where Thomas goes, trouble follows. He doesn't even try to cause it but it just happens."

"We talking about Thomas or you, El?" Chuck chimed in.

I put a hand to my chest in mock hurt "Who, me? Chuck I would _never_! And would the rest of you stop laughing!"

A glare was sent at everyone who had laughed at what Chuck had said. They knew better than to annoy me so the glare was very effective.

What seemed to be hours later, Thomas and Minho returned. I rolled my eyes "Finally, we've been waiting here for hours."

"Ellie, it's only been one hour." Gally snorted.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Newt asked.

"What have you done now, Thomas." Obviously, that came from Gally.

Thomas and Minho continued walking forwards. Newt took Minho's side and I took Thomas'. Thomas glanced at me "We found a new passage."

I made my eyes widen "Really? Whoa. Where does it lead to?"

Minho answered for him "We don't know, but we think it could be a way out. We'd opened a door, something I've never seen before. I think it's where the Grievers go during the day."

That caused the others around us to start muttering amongst each other.

"Wait, you're saying you found the Griever's home? You want us to go in there?" Chuck asked, pushing in between Thomas and Minho.

I nodded "Think about it, guys. The Grievers can get in and out of the Maze through there, there's a good chance we can too."

"Yeah. Or we could find a dozen Grievers in there." Gally added.

I craned my head back to look at Gally "Well, duh! It's their home after all. If everyone works together as a team, we can overcome them, you guys have never taken them on like that, have you? The Grievers are usually the ones picking us off one by one. Those who are unfortunate enough to encounter a Griever alone would run instead of fighting. We need to take action against the Grievers ourselves, otherwise, they'll come after us when we're least expecting it."

_Like they will tonight_, I thought. There was no way I could straight out tell the others that the Grievers were going to be attacking. My mind had already formed a plan for how I would deal with tonight's attack. How I would save Alby.

"But-" Gally tried to put in, but I was having none of it.

"But nothing, Gally! You've spent the last three years stuck in this hell hole, doing the same thing every day. The chance to finally leave here, to get some answers from whoever it is who put you here, and you just want to throw it away?!"

Everyone was silent, their eyes on me. I felt heat rush into my cheeks and I averted my eyes from their gaze.

"Hey, guys," Huh? When did Teresa get here? "It's Alby. He's awake."

Teresa led Thomas, Minho, Newt, Gally and Chuck away to where Alby was. I lingered behind. My hands were shaking, my breaths uneven. Things were going to get a lot more dangerous very soon. People were going to die. I wouldn't be able to stop it. It was different before, as I knew Thomas and Minho would have survived a night in the Maze. But now not everyone would be that lucky. It dawned on me that I couldn't save everyone, no matter how hard I tried. Ben was proof of that.

Although that would never stop me from trying.

* * *

The gates were still open.

The Gladers began to notice, they began to panic. Their shouting brought Thomas and the others from the Med bay. Thomas noticed me immediately, he motioned over to me and the group approached me. He placed a hand on my shoulder "El, what's going on?"

"It's the gates," My voice trembled, I turned to look at Thomas "They're not closing."

Everyone was running towards the entrance. Thomas pushed forwards, going to see what was happening. I followed close behind him. We all stood at the entrance, gazing into the dark Maze.

_CLANG!_

I covered my ears to block out the noise. Everyone turned to see the other gates opening.

"Ah, bloody fucking hell. Why does this shit have to happen now?" I said before I could stop myself. I'd forgotten that the four gates would be opened.

Newt sent me a scolding glance at my use of language. Was he really doing that _now_?

Thomas sprang into action, sending Chuck and Winston to barricade the Council Hall and Minho to gather weapons. Thomas grabbed Teresa by her shoulders "We're going to go grab Alby, okay?"

My eyes narrowed at Thomas. So he'd take _her_ with him, but not me?

We heard shouting from across the Glade. They were running away from something. A roar from behind us made it clear to me that the Grievers were here.

"Everybody hide!" Thomas shouted.

And so, we ran. We ran straight into the cornfield and hid among the plants. I somehow ended up separate from the others and I mentally cursed. I was better off in a group than alone. Gladers were shouting as they got caught by Grievers, it took a lot of effort for me not to block out their cries.

I felt my entire body freeze when I heard quiet clattering behind me. Slowly, I twisted my head around. Above me, a Griever's tail hung in the air, ready to strike. A scream tore from my throat as it's tail swung down towards me, I leapt out of the way just in time.

"Ellie!" Thomas shouted, but I didn't know where he was. I couldn't worry about him, though. I had my own problem to deal with. My legs felt like they were going to give out any second now, the fear I'd felt the last time I came face to face with a Griever returned. I readied myself for the next strike.

When the Griever did attack again, I was ready I caught hold of the Griever's tail and stuck my hand into the bulbous lump above its claws. My fingers wrapped around the lever and I viciously ripped it out. The Griever whirred, stumbling backwards before collapsing. Not wanting to chance another meeting with a Griever, I ran.

My feet carried me over the Council Hall, where I found Chuck and Winston. A few others were also inside, but Thomas had yet to make an appearance. I didn't have to wait long, as a few minutes later he came sprinting into the building with everyone else. I knew that Gally and some others were hiding elsewhere, they'd be safe. Thomas' gaze travelled across the room, stopping on me. In three long strides, he grabbed me and pulled me into an embrace which I didn't hesitate to return. I clung onto the back of his shirt tightly as he lightly stroked my hair.

"You're okay. You're alright." I heard him mumble into my neck.

A Griever started pounding on the front door, making me reluctantly release Thomas. The room was dark, it's occupants facing the door with tense stances. No one dared to breathe a word. The Griever snarled as it climbed across the building, searching for a weak spot. I prepared myself for what I knew would come next. It found a weak spot and tore through it. It's claws clasped around one of the wooden pillars, pulling it away and letting the roof collapse. We screamed, jumping away from bits of flying wood.

"Is everyone alright?" Newt asked. He got several murmured responses. A Glader began shouting for help, but he was taken away by the Griever before anyone had time to respond. The group gathered together in the centre of the room, waiting. Then, it happened. Another Greiver broke through the wall and captured Chuck in its claws.

"CHUCK!"

"Quick, grab him!"

"Pull him back!"

Thomas, Minho and Teresa grabbed onto Chuck's arm, trying to free him from the Griever.

"Don't let go!" Thomas cried.

"No shit," Chuck exclaimed.

If I wasn't so concerned for Chuck I probably would've laughed.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Alby pick up a long piece of wood. He charged at the Griever with a yell and battered it's tail with his stick. The Griever's stinger got knocked off, hitting the ground with a dull thud. After several hits, it released Chuck and pulled back. I breathed a sigh of relief. Chuck was alright. I moved closer to Alby.

Chuck looked up at his friend "Thanks, Alby."

The telltale sound of a Griever approaching came from outside. Thomas' eyes widened "Alby, watch out!"

I lunged.

Alby was pushed out of the way, but there was nothing stopping the Griever from clutching my waist between its claws and tearing me away from my friends.

"ELLIE!"

* * *

**Hello, my darling readers! It's been a while, hasn't it? I managed to escape the claws of procrastination and finish this chapter off. I got to sneak in a few hugs between Ellie and Thomas (As well as one for Minho, the lucky shank) so that was kinda cute. I've also dropped a nice little cliffhanger for you to panic over. Eheh, sorry. But on the bright side, Alby is still among us! Woohoo!**

**To those of you who have asked, yes, Thomas/Ellie will be endgame (Ellie is just in denial. And way too stubborn for her own good.)**

**And here's a quick shoutout to the Guest who has officially named the Thomas/Ellie ship, _Tellie, _which I fell in love with at first sight. Thank you!**

**Have a nice day!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


	16. New Plans

_I am going to die_, was all I could think as I was dragged further away from my friends. It was almost as if time had slowed down. I could see Thomas reaching out to me, screaming my name. Alby was on his back staring at me with wide eyes. Newt, Minho, they were running forwards, towards me. Teresa and Chuck were on the floor, shouting at me. _I didn't realise they cared so much about me._

I shook my head, breaking myself from my trance. My eyes narrowed. How dare this Griever hurt my friends? How dare it try to take me away from them, to try stop me from giving them the future they deserved? _Nothing could stop me from helping those I care about, nothing!_

The Griever had carried me halfway across the Glade, it seemed to have realised the loss of its stinger as it paused. Behind me, Thomas and the others were racing towards me. To my right, I saw Gally and his group. We made brief eye contact, his eyes widened when he realised just who the Griever was trying to carter off. Now he too was running in my direction.

I tried twisting around to grab the handle that would shut down the Griever, but it was holding onto me too tightly, I could barely move. It wasn't easy when I was only being held up by my waist. So I began punching the areas I could reach, which wasn't much. I gave it my all, punching and elbowing its tail. Fortunately for me, Alby had given it a good beating. After my tenth hit, a crack sounded from behind me. It deactivated the Griever's tail, the claws loosened their grip.

Unfortunately, right below me was the Griever with its razor sharp teeth. Instinctively, I grabbed onto its tail above the claws. Although the tail could no longer move, it was still stuck in place, hovering in the air. Whilst I could hold on, I took the opportunity to reach over to the handle and shut it down entirely. It needed a bit of effort, but I managed it in the end. The Griever collapsed and I tumbled ungracefully to the ground.

"Oh, sweet, sweet grass!" I wailed, clutching the grass in my hands "How treacherous it was to believe we'd never meet again!"

I let my eyes flutter close. I inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of everything around me burning. Amongst the chaos, someone had managed to set the Glade on fire.

"Ellie!"

"Eh?"

Someone was grabbing me by my shoulders. My eyes snapped open. Thomas was right in front of me. Most of the other Gladers crowded around us. Thomas looked at me with wide eyes "Ellie, are you alright? Are you hurt? Say something!"

Everyone waited, watching me carefully.

"Something. Has anyone got food? I'm feeling kinda hungry.." I answered.

Sighs of relief and slumping shoulders were from the other Gladers around us.

"Yep. She's fine, alright. Damn shank, why'd you worry us like that for?" Minho demanded.

"And how the hell did she of all people manage to kill a Griever?"

I scowled "First off, Gally, _rude_. Secondly, I've killed two before if you'd so kindly remember. And lastly, Minho, it's not like I asked the damn Griever to carter me off as its dinner!"

"Geez," I heard Newt mutter behind me "She almost gets herself killed and she _still_ has enough room to be snarky."

"Wait, you're telling me you've known how to kill a Griever for a while now and you didn't tell us?!" Gally exclaimed.

My eyes widened "Oh.. _Oh_. It completely slipped my mind."

Minho threw his hands in the air "You're a complete slinthead. Honestly."

"Sorry, guys," I whispered, rubbing the back of my head.

After somehow managing to pry myself from Thomas' grasp, I pulled myself up. I guiltily averted my gaze from my friends, rubbing the back of my head "So, about that food I was on about two minutes ago.."

"_Ellie_."

* * *

Later, after I had managed to convince Frypan to whip up some food, we gathered in what was left of the Council Hall. A good half hour was spent checking to see who was still with us, and who wasn't. Alby sent our two resident Med-Jacks, Clint and Jeff, to search the Glade and find those who were missing. It was up to them to tend to the wounded and account the dead.

As I nibbled on my third sandwich, which was absolutely delicious, Alby began our meeting "After four years of living in the Glade, the Grievers have finally attacked us, rampaging into the Glade and ruining everything. Lives have been lost tonight. We need to do something."

"We could leave," I suggested, my eyes never leaving my sandwich. I could practically hear Minho's eye roll from beside me.

Newt scoffed lightly "If it were that easy, we would've done it a bloody long time ago!"

"Yes," I said, dragging out the 'e', "But, what about that thing Thomas and Minho found, what did the thingy-ma-jig do?"

"It let us to a door, though we didn't have the time to open it 'cause the whole place started closing down," Minho answered.

I nodded along with what he said: "And suppose we approach this door once more and get it open, could it possibly be our way out?"

"And if it's not? Then we'll become dinner for the Grievers," Gally said, shaking his head.

I sent him a look "Don't be like that! Besides, if the Grievers were able to attack tonight, who's to say they won't come back again tomorrow night?"

Many of the Glader's eyes widened, or gasped in realisation. Not far from me, Winston muttered "I hadn't thought of that. Damn."

"Okay, so we'll devise a plan and set out tomorrow." Alby declared.

The rest of us were kicked out of the Council Hall not long after that. The Keepers, Alby and Newt stayed inside to discuss the plans for tomorrow. As Teresa, Thomas, Chuck and I walked back to the Homestead, I pouted, kicking the grass in front of me "Why did _I_ have to be kicked out, too? I mean I'm obviously the brains in this whole situation."

Chuck flashed me a sympathetic smile, Teresa chose not to comment. I turned to Thomas, who had been lost in his own thoughts since the meeting had begun "Hey, are you alright? Normally you would've been really sarcastic about what I just said, or roll your eyes. People do that to me a lot."

"We need to know more about this place. Why we were sent here. Who sent us," Thomas' voice was quieter than normal, and he didn't meet any of our eyes, "There's only one way for me to do that."

Before the rest of us could even begin to process what he had just said, Thomas raised his right arm and stabbed himself with the stinger I didn't even know he was holding until now. Thomas cried out in agony, dropping to the ground. Teresa and Chuck screamed at him, quickly rushing to his side. I could only stand there and look at him, a dumb expression on my face.

"What the actual _fuck_, Thomas?!"

* * *

_(Third Person)_

Lucinda hurried down the halls of WICKED's current headquarters, her heels clicking against the concrete floor. She needed to give the Chancellor the documents that Lucinda had been asked to retrieve. As she passed Janson's office, an outraged yell startled her.

She heard something smash against a wall, followed by "WHY WON'T THAT BRAT JUST DIE ALREADY, GAH!"

A smile graced Lucinda's coral lips as she continued her way down the corridor, hearing Janson break more objects in his office. Not much could unsettle Janson, and watching an adolescent girl do it without even knowing it brought some well-needed amusement into Lucinda's life.

_Soon_, the strawberry blonde woman thought, _soon we will finally meet, my dear Ellie._

* * *

**Guess who finally managed to crawl out of her hole and conquer her writer's block? Moi! It feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest, now that I figured how to move along with this chapter. And it's just in time for Halloween, too. **

**For some reason, I just really like to piss Janson off (Not that he doesn't deserve it, though.) I like to imagine that whenever the topic of Ellie comes up at WICKED, he starts ranting about her and gets real angry with his co-workers, which terrifies the ever living life outta them.**

**Happy Halloween!**

**~ SparkleMuffinz**


End file.
